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Tennessee associate head coach Justin Gainey points during a NCAA basketball game between the Tennessee Volunteers and Tennessee State Tigers at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center in Knoxville, Tenn., on Nov. 20, 2025. | Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Another year, another head coaching position open for N.C. State basketball.
Will Wade bolted from Raleigh after just one season, going back home to the school that fired him for cheating back in 2022. LSU made the stunning move while sending Matt McMahon out the door quietly. Wade is now free to make his stong-ass-offers legally in Baton Rouge.
The move leaves N.C. State at the same place they were at a season ago — evaluating Justin Gainey. The Tennessee assistant spent his playing days with the Wolfpack and began his coaching career there. Gainey was a favorite for the job last season until Wade’s name emerged as a possibility.
He’s an obvious target for N.C. State this time around after yet another successful season under Rick Barnes.
“We have been so locked in here and you kind of see the noise and not really knowing what is real and what is not,” Gainey said this week in Chicago. “N.C. State is a great place. It is home. I don’t know what they’ll do or what direction they’ll go in. I hadn’t really heard much.”
Gainey has worked under Barnes in Knoxville since 2021. He began his coaching career with N.C. State back in 2006 as an administration coordinator before becoming the director of operations. He’s spent time at Appalachian State, Santa Clara, Elon and Marquette as an assistant.
Barnes has hired Gregg Polinsky, Amorrow Morgan, Steve McClain and elevated Bryan Lentz over the past few seasons. Those moves coming after Rob Lanier, Mike Schwartz and Kim English moved on to head coaching jobs.
English was just fired from Providence and it will be interesting to see where he lands, especially if Tennessee had an opening.
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