McNeese State basketball head coach Will Wade has been suspended for the first five games of the 2023-2024 season, two days after he was hired as the new coach of the program, according to Matthew Travis of KPLC7News.

The suspension was in Will Wade's contract, and also prohibits him from off campus recruiting activities through July 31, according to Travis. The contract is five years long and is worth $1.175 million over that time.

Wade will be paid $200k in his first year, then $225k in his second season, and $250k each year for the last three seasons of the contract, according to Travis.

Wade was hired by McNeese State on March 12, exactly a year after he was fired from the LSU basketball program. He was fired from the LSU basketball program after receiving notice of allegations from the NCAA, according to Adam Zagoria.

That is where the suspension from McNeese State comes in. Wade received the notice of violations, and has not coached a game in college basketball since, so the build-in suspension could be to help prevent Wade from getting a show-cause penalty.

A show-cause penalty in the NCAA attaches penalties to a coach even if that coach moves on to a new school, although the new school can appeal to show why it shouldn't be under the same penalties, according to Steven M. Sipple of Journal Star.

McNeese State hopes Wade can build their program, while Wade will hope to build his stock back up as a coach. That will have to come in the sixth game of McNeese's season in 2023.