Will Wade, VCU’s new replacement for Shaka Smart, ended his first press conference today saying “You still don’t want to go to war with the rams.”
Will Wade, VCU’s new replacement for Shaka Smart, ended his first press conference today saying “You still don’t want to go to war with the rams.”
Though a short affair, the new coach went on to introduced the “Wade era” of VCU basketball, with a program poised to change very little.
“Havoc still lives here,” he said, assuring the assembled crowd.
“The nuts and bolts of our program will be similar, but it’ll have my personality on it,” Wade said. He promised a renewed focus on the program’s players, promising to set records on and off the court.
During two of his four semesters as head coach at University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, Wade set team record GPAs – he’s a trained high school history teacher and promised continued academic success.
Before Wade was introduced, VCU athletic director Ed McLaughlin spoke about the importance of continuity to the program.
“We found it very important to keep this in the VCU family and I think we did that in a special way,” McLaughlin said. “When we looked at what we needed here at VCU, we really locked in” on three needs: someone who connected with student-athletes, someone who could be involved in the community and someone who was a proven winner.
“We will continue to win big, win often and win now,” McLaughlin said.
Wade later echoed that statement.
“We’re going to stay nationally ranked… We’re going to stay nationally relevant. We’re going to defend our A-10 Tournament Championship.”
Statements from McLaughlin and Wade both thanked former coach Shaka Smart. The announcements looked to build on the successes Smart helped bring to VCU.
Feelings towards the former coach were mixed, with his name eliciting cheers from the crowd present at the conference and disdain from those streaming the conference on YouTube.
“Shaka lied to all of us and he is just in it for the money” commenter Zach Malinsky said. “He can take his bull horns and shove them somewhere.”
