Assistants fire back at NCAA, critics of head coach Will Wade in March Madness

Will Wade's assistant coaches quite literally have his back.

The McNeese State coaches, preparing for their basketball team's NCAA Tournament game against Gonzaga Thursday night in the first full day of March Madness, donned customized T-shirts with screenshots of various headlines, Tweets and other social media posts that had targeted the return of Wade while the team practiced in advance of the game.

How much did McNeese lean into the head coach's former persona non grata status in big-time college basketball?

The Cowboys' official X (formerly Twitter) account led its hype video from their March Madness practice with a still image of the customized shirts.

Wade guided McNeese State to a 30-win season, and the No. 12-seeded Cowboys have leaned into their opportunity against the perennial NCAA Tournament program Gonzaga.

"You can say it: I got fired," Wade told reporters Wednesday during a press conference in Salt Lake City's Delta Center, host site of tonight's game. "Yeah, I mean, look, it's not about me. We have a lot of guys who have overcome a lot of adversity, too, to get here. 

"If you look at our roster, it's littered with transfers from multiple schools, guys who have overcome a lot of things to get here.

"I think that's what bonded all of us. We're kind of a mismatch group. We've come together pretty quick. Everybody has a common thread. We all need each other. We all needed McNeese. McNeese needed all of us. It's kind of bonded all of us together as a group. That's been the most rewarding and most exciting part of the year."

But Wade has on record called his team's advancement into this year's NCAA Tournament as the greatest accomplishment of his coaching career -- even though he led both LSU and VCU into March Madness. 

That backdrop set the scene for the backdrop on the backs of Wade's coaches. 

One Twitter post featured prominently on the back of the coaches' shirts was from Dick Vitale, the former coach and decades-long ESPN college basketball analyst. In all capital letters in his post, Vitale blasted Wade's comments as "DISGRACEFUL" in the audio recordings that were leaked while Wade was under investigation during his brief run at LSU.

There were national headlines, opinion pieces and more news items plastered onto the back of the shirts.