Will Wade's Breakout Session Video + Quotes

NC State head coach Will Wade met with the media after his press conference.  Check out what all he had to say!

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the breakout session with coach Wade.

On the responsibilities of NC State’s GM...
It's going to be a combined role, a general manager role. I can't talk specifically about everything because we're still working through HR with some of these hires. We'll give you guys information as soon as we have it. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. It'll be a general manager, chief strategist type role where we'll certainly be heavily involved in the recruiting and the strategy of putting the team together and how all of the parts and pieces fit together.

We've got everything we need to compete and win. We've got everything we need. We've got the relationships and the resources to get the players. This is a player's game. It's the horse, it's not the job. We're only as good as the players. We've got everything we need to go and attract the best players in the country.

Starting tomorrow morning, that's what we're going to do. The first order of business, I've got to finish the staff. We've got to finish the staff and then we've got to recruit. After that, we've got to get the schedule done. That's going to be the first order of business. We’ll try to have the program, it’s a transition period so we won’t have the program fully up and operational until summer school starts May 14th. 

Your wife in red and putting up the wolf hands. How does she feel about all of this?
She's good. She's enjoying it. She's happy to be close to home in Charlotte, where her family is. All of my daughters and friends are, so she’s excited. 

What's your philosophy in this new era through high school and the portal? 
We're going to have to be a little portal heavy to start. A perfect world would be to get two or three freshmen, one tech freshman, a couple developmental freshmen, get three or four out of the portal, and be able to retain over half of the [roster]. That's the formula for building a good program. The first two years, that's not how we're going to do it. We're going to have to be a little portal heavy this year, get some freshmen as well, see who wants to stay. Hopefully, by year three, we'll only have to bring in two or three freshmen, 3-4 portal guys and we’ll have guys who are staying. 

How quickly do you hope to have your coaching staff set?
We've got to work through HR, so there's some different processes. We're a big state university governed by a state system, so it's not like we just have to do this. We'll have a shell of the staff set hopefully by later this week or next week. I would say after the final four, in mid-April, we should have the full staff. Close to completion. 

Will, a lot of people want to know, will Amir Khan be joining you here?
We've spoken with Amir, and I love Amir to death. We want to do what's best for Amir. What's best for Amir is to come to NC State. That's what we'll do. He's never been out of Louisiana. He's from Lake Charles, Louisiana. He went to high school. He went to McNeese. Louisiana's different now. It's hard to get those guys to roll out here sometimes. I'm here to help Amir. He's awesome. He volunteered for us for two years, and he's been phenomenal. If he wants to come to NC State, he certainly can. If he needs my help going somewhere else, we'll certainly help him with that, too. 

Any specific stipulation regarding revenue sharing and NIL? 
We just spoke about it. Look, in this thing, it's about trust. Like I said, that's another one. Boo told me what we had in NIL and revenue share, and I got here. We got more than they told me we had. I was on the plane yesterday talking about it. It’s not exactly what they said, in a good way. Look, we're going to be competitive. Are we going to have the most? No, that's not what we need. We've got to be competitive, and that's on me to spend it properly. You've got to allocate the resources. And a general manager. You've got to allocate the resources properly. That's what we're going to do. 

And then a follow up to that. The 1Pack NIL Collective had 600+ members in the past two weeks.  What does that say about the fan support wanting to see the program take that next level consistently? 
They want to win, and we're going to win. I think that that support speaks volumes. We love the fans. We love our fan base. Look, the foundation to winning right now is collectives and revenue share. That's how you win. To have that as a head start is huge. 

In your eyes, what does the men's team statement look like?
It depends on what position you are in. Every position is a little bit different. Look, just in overall characteristics, standpoint one, I really like kids who have overcome adversity. You've overcome adversity in life to get here. You go to overcome adversity when you're on the court. You want guys who are gritty, grinding, you want guys who are tough. You want guys who are going to get their hands in the mud. I always say don't put championship rings on smooth fingers. You've got to get your hands in the mud. You've got to be able to dig in. You want guys who are going to represent who we are.

Was there any concern from you after Coach Keatts was fired from taking a team for four decades to come to NC State? 
No. Look, we're here to build a consistent winner. We don't want to be a flash in the pan. Coach Keatts had an incredible run. He did a really, really good job. Somebody I've known since he was at Hargrave Military Academy. The expectations are pretty clear. Here's the thing. If we can build a consistent winner, it will break your way sometimes. You look at the Virginia team that won the national title. He’ll probably tell you that it wasn’t his best team. But he kept being at the top. He kept winning the ACC. But really he was at the top two or three in the ACC every year. Kept getting protected seeds in the NCAA tournament. Eventually, the bracket breaks your way. I think that's what we want to do here at NC State. We want to consistently be in the top four in the ACC starting next year. Then we want to consistently get good seeds in the NCAA tournament. If we do that for five straight years, one of those years, it's going to break our way. Two or three of those years, we probably go to Sweet 16 or Elite 8. One of those years, we'll probably get upset in the first round. That's just the way the tournament goes. That's just the reality of it. That's just the way that deal works. It's like winning the lottery. The more ping pong balls you put in there, the better chance you get to win the thing, right? We're trying to continually put deposits in there. We're competing at that level. Eventually, it will happen. My charge is to build a consistent program and a consistent winner that is not reliant on crazy runs. That's what consistently and reliably we want to be in the top four.

On how to build a team in this era...
The difference today is you're no longer building a program. You're just building a team every year. You've just got to build the best team you have and turn around and try to keep as many of those guys. Then go build the next best team you can the next year around the guys that you're able to build on this year. It's just continually trying to build the best team. That's what it is. We've got a formula. We've got intel on stuff that allows us to do that. 

Did you meet with the team yesterday? 
I landed at three and met with the team at four. The first thing you do is go see the team. 

How did that go, and what was your message? 
You have to ask them.

Look, I was direct. I told them, hey, this is what I believe in NC State basketball. This is why I'm here. Here's what you're going to get if you choose to stay. As you all know, I'm a huge advocate of the player movement. I'm not against a transfer portal. I'm not against any of this stuff. I told someone, hey, put your name in the portal. We'll still meet. I've got some individual meetings tomorrow. We'll still meet. If you still want to come back, that's fine. I'm not one of those once-your-name-in-the-portals-you-can-never-come-back.

One of our best players at McNeese put his name in the portal when I got the job. He came back and he was the two-time defensive player of the year in the Southland Conference. What an idiot I’d be just to cast him off. I told him, hey, put your name in the portal. We're still going to meet. Look, we want guys who want to be at NC State. We want people that are excited about being at NC State. Excited about what they're about to do on the road that we're getting ready to take. Whoever that is. We'll coach them. We'll love them up. Get them ready to compete at the top of the ACC.

Where does your work ethic come from?
It's important. It's a joy. I enjoy being around the players. I get energy being around the players. I get energy being around my staff. I get joy being around my staff. As for my staff, I'm going to get people I enjoy being around. I don't want jerks. I want people that I enjoy being around. I love kind of fitting the puzzle together and figuring out all the pieces every year. That sort of stuff gives me great energy. 

Has your wife had to burn any Carolina gear?
She burned that a long time ago. Now the good news is my daughter hates Duke. Just joking. But she hasn't. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen her wear Carolina gear since I’ve left. 

You mentioned Shumate, different guys over the years. What's a trendsetter or a pulse setter for you? 
I mean, look, you've got to get somebody you can build around in recruiting, right? You’ve got to get one main cog that you can build around. That’s what we’re gonna try to go find and ascertain here. 

How have you learned cockyness and confidence?
Confidence is, the way I define it, is being secure in yourself. What got me in trouble was thinking this had to happen or if I didn’t get this it was going to be the end of the world. Confidence is one thing. But if it doesn't go this way, I'm not going to take the shortcut. There's another way to go get the same thing done. This isn’t life or death. This isn't the end. So I think that's the balance between cockyness and confidence. I’m still very confident, which you can probably tell. We’re not backing down from anybody, we’re not going to blur any lines. We’re not going to think that we’re invincible and that everything is just going to work out.