NC State players to go through hectic stretch coming up

NC State athletic director Boo Corrigan not only has to find a new coach to replace Will Wade, who left to return to LSU, but also has to have staff members take care of the players left behind.

NC State has nine players who have remaining college eligibility, and will be figuring out their plans with the NCAA transfer portal approaching April 7.

Players eligible to return are redshirt junior small forward Terrance Arceneaux, redshirt junior power forward Jerry Deng, sophomore shooting guard Paul McNeil, redshirt freshman small forward Colt Langdon, freshman power forward Musa Sagnia, freshman shooting guard Matt Able, freshman small forward Cole Cloer, freshman shooting guard Jayme Kontuniemi and freshman power forward Zymicah Wilkins.

Related link: NC State basketball coaching hot board: Candidates to replace Will Wade

Corrigan hasn’t spoken to the players yet, but has made sure other members of the athletic department have.

“I’ve been a little tied up on other things, but we have senior staff members that have reached out to our student-athletes to let them know that we are available, want to help whatever they need from a workout standpoint, from a trainer standpoint, rehab, and those types of things,” Corrigan said.

Some might transfer, while a few might stay. Perhaps some players who were thinking of transferring might return if they feel good about the new hire.

“There’s going to be a lot of movement, right?” Corrigan said. “There’s going to be a lot of movement with the team, and we want to make sure that ones that are here, that are committed to NC State, know that that commitment is from us as well.

“Whatever decision they make at that point is going to be up to them and whoever we hire.”

Corrigan said they have taken care of numerous other aspects of the program that need to remain in place after the departure of Wade and others members of his staff to LSU on Thursday.

“It’s our training staff, our strength and conditioning staff,” Corrigan said. “With all this happening today, I’m not sure, from a strength and conditioning standpoint, if that person is going to go with Coach Wade or not go with Coach Wade.

“We did have meetings today with the head of strength and conditioning with the head of our athletic training as well as nutrition to make sure that we have people in place to make sure that our students are taken care of.”

The Wolfpack finished 20-14 overall and 10-8 in the ACC, before losing to Texas in the First Four game in Dayton on March 17. Wade had promised a “Red Reckoning” and it has ended in a whimper.

Corrigan was asked Thursday if he regretted the hire of Wade, and he purposefully said “No,” for several reasons.

“I think going back to this past year, a lot of people are excited about NC State basketball, right, and excited about what happened this past year,” Correigan said. “I think it’s really hard to have a fair amount of self-reflection on everything that’s occurred in the last, you know, 24, 30 hours, whatever that has been.

“He did a good job, right, when he was here. It’s fun to go to games again, right, and to see all the people in the arena. It’s fun to beat teams from around here, right, and be a part of that. I guess, again, I’m disappointed that it ended the way that it did. More than I am wishing it never happened.”