This is the story of what might have been, of what could have been, of what should have been.

Maybe it was politics. Maybe it was egos. Maybe it just wasn’t the right time, but oh, what could have been.

Will Wade should not be house shopping in Raleigh, North Carolina, right now, and he should not be searching the NCAA transfer portal for players to add to the Wolfpack’s roster.

He should not be thinking about Duke or North Carolina, either.

And he dang sure should not be coaching at North Carolina State.

Wade and his family should be back where they belong: in Baton Rouge.

He should be coaching the LSU Tigers again, fighting with Alabama’s Nate Oats and Tennessee’s Rick Barnes. It’s what was meant to be.

Maybe it will happen again. Maybe he will find his wandering way back to the place he never should have been forced out of. Maybe one day, this will all make sense.

For now, we are left to wonder what might have been, what could have been, and what should have been.

If you think Wade at LSU is nothing more than a Louisiana fan’s pipe dream, think again. It almost happened, though few will talk about it.

Just hours before Wade was to lead his now former McNeese State Cowboys to their biggest victory in school history, a first-round NCAA Tournament win over Clemson last week that shocked the college basketball world, news of Wade’s move to N.C. State broke wide open.

It caused everyone to look at what else could happen, how one of the best coaches in the game could slip through the fingers of LSU and A.D. Scott Woodward.

LSU fired Wade in 2022 over a recruiting scandal that was more embarrassing than evil. Wade took the blame and rebuilt his career with two glorious seasons at McNeese.

This was all while LSU fans watched and hoped he would come back to the Tigers. It would have made all the sense in the world.

Think about it: after the terrible decision to fire Wade a few years back and three lousy seasons, Woodward could become a hero and bring Willy the Kid, aka, The American Gangster, back home.

Humbled and rededicated, Wade could rally the Tigers back into the SEC race. A true money-making, feel-good story for all.

The man who lifted a college basketball flea puppy into an up-and-coming mid-level dog with some bite could turn LSU into a pure-breed championship contender again.

When he had the time, he could also continue to help the little school just two hours down the road that gave him his comeback shot. Wade has still vowed to do that; it just would have been a smoother move from within the same state.

Truthfully, some sources say that it was in the works even after somebody leaked the news of a move to N.C. State at the worst possible time, the day before the Clemson game.

The leak likely came from Baton Rouge, perhaps to sabotage a comeback in Tiger Town. That’s still a mystery, but it’s about the only thing that makes sense.

It’s hard to believe anybody from North Carolina would want the news out prematurely. No one at McNeese would do it either.

Yet there it was, making everything look bad. Only one place has done that before.

To Wade’s and his players’ credit, they played the best half of their two years together at McNeese and beat No. 12 Clemson for the first NCAA Tournament win in its history.

That turned McNeese State into the talk of the tourney’s first weekend, which is all Wade could have dreamed of when he arrived here. It became the talk of LSU fans who begged all over social media for his return.

A last-second move seemed likely. It would be one old Huey Long himself would have loved. You get the feeling that powerful folks were trying to make it happen in some back room filled with cigar smoke.

The next day there were even more rumblings about Wade returning to LSU, and according to some sources, things got to the point where something was going to happen. It would have been the perfect setup for both LSU and McNeese.

Big brother and little brother in basketball tandem. Together they could have worked to build both programs on separate levels with equal goals, to win according to their standards.

However, there appeared to have been other forces at work.

So, McNeese will likely continue to be a solid basketball newcomer to the world of winning, with Wade’s former LSU assistant Bill Armstrong at the helm and with help from an old friend from time to time.

As for LSU, well, more basketball wasteland appears ahead. At least for next season.

Oh, but what might have been, what could have been, and yes, what should have been.

And maybe, just maybe, what might still be … one day.

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