Former Arkansas player Jimmy Whitt calls for Razorbacks to hire Will Wade
Arkansas men’s basketball has a sudden head coaching vacancy after Eric Musselman departed the program to be the new coach at USC, and some former Razorback players are chiming in on the upcoming search.
One such player is Jimmy Whitt, an early Musselman-era player who is staunchly in support of the Hogs hiring former LSU coach Will Wade away from his current gig at McNeese State, who he took to the NCAA Tournament after winning 30 games in his first season with the Jackrabbits.
There’s never been much doubt whether Wade can coach; he certainly can, as evidenced by a couple terrific teams at LSU, including an SEC regular season champ one year, success prior to that at VCU, and now his accomplishment in getting McNeese back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 22 seasons.
Of course, Wade’s background includes some run-ins with the FBI as well as a laundry list of NCAA violations. The catch is that most of what Wade got caught doing would be legal under the current NIL guidelines. So how bad of a guy are we really talking about here?
That’s why Whitt pined for Wade as the hire with this long message he posted to Twitter:
“Did a lil research on Will Wade. My ticket is in that box for sure. From what I have seen his ‘violations’ are legal now. One could say he was ahead of his time (shrug emoji) haha. At LSU he is something like 100+ wins, 50 losses. He knows the league and knows how to win at a high level.”
Whitt emphasized Wade’s fun style of play and the fact that he landed some studs during his time at LSU.
“From first hand experience, he lets his guys play and it would be exciting basketball. He gets GUYS. Cameron Thomas, Skylar Mays, Darius Days, Trendon Watford, Javonte Smart to name a few. These are NBA guys that have seen the league or playin still.”
Under Eric Musselman, Arkansas may not have played the most offense-forward style of ball, but the team was certainly entertaining and was able to produce pros. Whitt believes the same could be true with Wade.
Plus, when it comes to the knock on Wade, his embattled history with the NCAA, Whitt just isn’t very concerned about any of those roadblocks actually mattering too much when it comes to recruiting.
“I don’t know where is at with the punishment from the NCAA, if he has it. But still, if so, recruiting restrictions are irrelevant, especially with the transfer portal. Good transfers don’t care bout visits, they care about playing minutes and winning.”
Jimmy Whitt’s vote is cast for Will Wade. After early reports that Chris Beard and Jerome Tang, who have since said they aren’t leaving their respective jobs, were leading candidates alongside Wade, the former Razorback could hit the nail on the head with his prediction.