NC State coach Will Wade apologizes for retro uniform controversy, pleads for fans to stop social media attacks

It was a remark that, in the moment, appeared to be a passing comment. NC State coach Will Wade was asked a simple question on his weekly radio show last Thursday about how much say he has in the program using the 1983 throwback uniforms that don the simple “STATE” across the chest. 

Wade, a person that doesn’t hide how he feels, answered it in an honest way. 

“I don’t have much of a say. I mean, I like them. We should [wear them]. … I think it connects us to our past, connects us to our history,” Wade said alongside radio voice Matt Chazanow. “I like the Slobbering Wolf. I actually want to wear the Slobbering Wolf, but they won’t let me wear that on my jacket. It’s a bureaucracy like anything. There’s so much red tape, there’s so much stuff that you’ve got to go through. 

“But I like the uniforms. Hopefully we can bust them out maybe one more time this year. I’m one of those guys – this probably doesn’t surprise you – I like to ask for forgiveness, not permission. We got a scathing email from the university after our first game. They were not happy. I don’t think they quite knew we were going to wear the “STATE” ones. I ran it by some of the higher ups in the athletics department. I don’t know if it made it further than that.”

What followed was something Wade couldn’t have imagined. A social media firestorm ensued with fans clamoring for the university to change its thinking. Some did digging into the branding office, calling for others to send emails and phone calls to get them to change their tune on what logos the team dons on the court. 

And once the email from Sonni Minton, the director of trademarks licensing and brand protection, was made available via an open records request to TheWolfpacker.com Tuesday afternoon, social media lit up once again. The email wasn’t “scathing” as Wade referenced in his radio show, but several fans weren’t happy with the reasoning provided in the communication, dated Nov. 4, one day after the season-opening win over NC Central. 

The email read: “I wanted to get some clarification on the use of the STATE jersey that was worn last night. The university brand guidelines prohibit the use of STATE as a standalone representation of the university of a team.

“I know these jerseys exist because they were used last year to commemorate the 1974 team and their championship. That being said I also know that Coach likes our Vault marks. I just need to have an idea of how he plans to use our Vault marks, including this uniform. They are not supposed to be usd except in retail (and STATE isn’t supposed to be used except the 1974 and 1983 championship teams). We have no STATE products readily available in retail.

“The use of these marks causes brand confusion when there is no story or reasoning for them.

“If you could let me know so I can let our team know. I’m getting a lot of questions and will need an explanation in the Integrated Leadership Meeting. I also have to explain to our on campus and off campus retailers.”

NC State’s fan base quickly went after Minton, who is an East Carolina graduate, on social media throughout most of Tuesday afternoon. So just after sitting down on the dais inside the cramped media workroom in the bowels of the Lenovo Center after NC State’s 88-68 win over Syracuse, Wade opened his postgame press conference with a two-minute apology on the latest hot-button issue.

“Before we get into the game tonight, I want to address my comments on our retro uniforms and logo usage. I never intended for this to get out of hand,” Wade said. “I appreciate our fans, our fans are incredible. Their passion, there’s nothing like it in college athletics and college basketball. But the attacks on our strategic brand management staff, there’s no place for that. Like these people are doing their jobs, all right? I apologize. I texted every one of them and apologized privately. I’m apologizing publicly now. But we need to stop. This is their job. 

“Whatever anybody thinks, this is their job. It’s our job to do what’s best for the university, and what’s best for the university is our Tuffy logo and moving forward with that. I urge our fans, these folks are good folks, hard-working folks who are doing their job. We don’t need to attack anybody. If you want to attack somebody, attack me for starting this and saying something that I didn’t realize was going to set this off. These are hard-working, good folks. They don’t need to be dealing with this. They’ve been great to work with. They’ve worked with us on many other issues and they’ve been very good to work with. They’re great partners with us on campus. We don’t need that. These folks work extremely hard, and want to advance NC State, just like all of us do.”

Wade, who has spent most of his career in the spotlight, either as a fast-rising coach up the ranks or with the end of his tenure at LSU, which was punctuated by being fired due to an NCAA investigation around recruiting violations, pointed the finger at himself. 

If someone had an issue with the logo or uniforms not being used as often as they’d like, the first-year coach wanted them to be bad at him. Not the everyday workers in the Office of Strategic Brand Management. 

“Train it at me. I make a lot of money,” Wade said. “Some of these folks we’re going after, are not. Train it at me. I can take it. I’ve been through a lot worse. I’ve had a lot of bad stuff written about me, which is fine.”

Wade is learning as he goes. At each of his past stops in college basketball — Chattanooga, VCU, LSU or McNeese — basketball wasn’t on the stage that it is on Tobacco Road at NC State. The fan base has immense pride and passion for its team, which Wade has become familiar with in a hurry. 

This is just another learning lesson for the honest coach. He noted he’s going to rein in his own thoughts, sharing most of what he thinks on topics, but not all of it moving forward. Wade wanted to move on from this topic and hoped that the fans will follow his lead to focus on the Wolfpack’s on-court product, which featured its best start to ACC play since the 2005-06 campaign at 6-2 after earning the blowout win over Syracuse.

“I appreciate our fans’ passion. I appreciate how passionate they are about everything, but we’ve got to stop this,” Wade said. “These are people. These are human beings that are doing their job. They’re doing their job, so let’s put a stop to that. Let’s move forward with NC State and keep winning some basketball games.”