Will Wade spent Monday night beating the brains out of Craig Doty and his Houston Christian basketball team.

Tuesday, he and Doty picked at each other’s basketball minds.

In what seems like a strange turn of events to most is classic Will Wade.

If you are going to enter his world, you must always expect the unexpected. Nothing is as it appears to be.

For if nothing else, Wade is unique, a classic one-of-a-kind. He combines an old-school basketball coaching style with a new-age recruiting touch. 

He can peel the paint off the locker room wall with a scathing post-game tirade and, moments later, joke with fans, praising the efforts of the team in a victory he had just torn apart.

To Wade, winning matters, but so does his club’s execution, effort and attitude. 

“It’s tough love for sure,” said guard Quadir Copeland. “He wants the best for you, but he also expects the best of you.”

And he also respects what other teams and coaching staff are doing.

Wade always prioritizes respect for the game and playing it the right way. So, when he sees that from other teams, he is equally impressed.

It’s easy to guess that very few coaches in the country would do what McNeese State’s Wade did just hours after beating Doty’s Huskies. Calling a conquered opponent not to rub it in but rather praise him and his club’s efforts 

That made an even bigger impression on the Huskies head coach.

Tuesday evening, Doty posted his appreciation on the social media site X to share his thoughts:

We were beaten by McNeese State by 16 last night, and Will Wade contacted me today to discuss hoops and exchange ideas.

We talked for 20 minutes and then text through the morning. I’ve never heard from an opposing coach who kicked our butt who wanted to both learn and share. He was complimentary, real, and insightful. I have tons of respect for Will.

It’s more than just NIL and talent with his program. It’s culture, vision, advanced scouting, analytics, terminology, and most importantly, the human element. – Craig Doty.

For the record, Monday night, Wade’s McNeese team beat Houston Christian 75-59, winning its 25th Southland Conference game in 26 tries over his two years running the Cowboys.

Since Wade arrived on campus, McNeese has undoubtedly become the dominant team in the SLC, but he is also making a giant impact throughout the league. 

First, he brought it much-needed national attention. Then, he forced all the other programs to step up their games to compete. Now, he is exchanging information with some of the other conference coaches.

“I was very, very impressed with some of the things they did,” Wade said of Houston Christian. “I was curious about how they did it and tried to get a sense of some of the things they were working on.”

So he decided to call and find out.

“He gave me way more than I gave him,” Wade said.

While that part might or might not be true, one thing is sure: Wade didn’t do much of this in his days in the SEC.

“There were some guys I liked in that league,” Wade joked. 

Wade was a lightning rod in his days coaching at LSU. The old guard didn’t like him much, and he often overshadowed newcomers.

And the media just took shots at him.

Now, off most of their radars, Wade is back at his roots, coaching, talking, and still learning basketball.

So, for him, picking up the phone to call a fellow coach and talk a little basketball seems like no big thing, even if it surprises many who think they know Wade.

All this is good for McNeese’s basketball program, which will undoubtedly be better off when Wade decides to leave than it was before he arrived.

We will just have to live with it, like hearing about Wade calling a new friend after stomping his team.

None of this should surprise us now; we have seen him eating hot dogs and talking to fans as part of his pre-game ritual. 

After that, nothing about Wade is shocking.

Jim Gazzolo is a freelance writer who covers McNeese State athletics for the American Press. Email him at jimgazzolo@yahoo.com