Fighting Tigers basketball coach Will Wade spoke for the first time Tuesday since he was suspended for failing to address allegations of illegal payments to recruits with LSU officials. Wade dodged questions about the reported strong offer made to Javonte Smart, but he did address the allegation of a $300,000 offer for Naz Reid
“I will say this on the latest reports that was not covered with my meetings with LSU. That was absolutely false and did not happen,” said Wade.
Wade says he regrets the way he handled the accusations whenever they first surfaced that lead to a suspension that would see him missing the Tiger’s entire postseason run.
“I severely underestimated maybe how long it would take for the lawyers and for those folks to work through some of those issues,” said Wade.
Wade was reinstated following a meeting with LSU and the NCAA. Wade says he believes the fan base eventually deserves an explanation from his point of view of the events that lead to the suspension.
“I certainly want to get to a point where I can have full disclosure like I did in that meeting with everybody in the public, but we’re just not at that place right now,” said Wade.
Wade made the comments to reporters covering the SEC spring meetings in Destin, Florida.
