LSU Suspends Basketball Coach Will Wade Indefinitely

A day after a Yahoo report revealed a conversation LSU head basketball coach Will Wade had with Christian Dawkins, the now imprisoned middleman of the college hoops corruption federal case, the University has suspended Wade indefinitely.

In a joint statement released today by LSU President and Chancellor F. King Alexander and athletic director Joe Alleva, the two men explained their decision.

The full statement is below:

Recent media reports regarding Coach Will Wade are without question concerning to all of us. As such, we and university officials have taken deliberate and purposeful steps to fairly assess and adequately address this situation. As we have done since media reports first surfaced months ago, we are closely coordinating with the NCAA with every step. They have our full cooperation and we will continue to report to them all facts and information on this matter.

All of us at LSU share the obligation to protect the integrity of this institution, as such we have suspended Head Coach Will Wade indefinitely until such time as we can ensure full compliance with the NCAA, as well as institutional policies and standards. Assistant coach Tony Benford will assume the duties of interim head coach.

Controversy has shrouded Wade for awhile.

In addition to yesterday's story detailing Wade's discussion with Dawkins about an "offer" he made to current freshmen LSU guard Ja'vonte Smart during the summer of 2017, he was subpoenaed 11 days ago to testify at a federal court trial regarding corruption in college basketball this April 22nd.

He was also linked to the first federal corruption trial involving Dawkins back in October after a phone conversation he had with Dawkins regarding the recruitment of 7-foot Balsa Koprivica (now playing at Florida State), in which Wade told Dawkins "I can get you what you need, but it's got to work".

LSU hosts Vanderbilt this Saturday at the PMAC, and with a victory, would procure the #1 seed in the SEC tournament, and a share of the regular season SEC championship.