When No. 5 seed Clemson faces No. 12 seed McNeese in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, it will give head coach Will Wade an opportunity to coach against his alma mater.

Wade graduated from Clemson in 2005 and his first coaching job came as a graduate assistant on Oliver Purnell’s staff with the Tigers from 2005-2007.

“I went to Clemson,” Wade said Sunday night after the bracket was revealed. “They are a team I follow closely. Football, basketball, baseball. It will be a tough matchup.”

After serving as an assistant at Harvard and VCU, Wade landed his first head coaching job with Chatanooga in 2013. He’s gone on to have head coaching stints at VCU and LSU, along with his current job at McNeese.

Wade led VCU to the NCAA Tournament twice and then made the field three more times while in Baton Rouge.

The head coach is currently 57-10 over his two years leading the Cowboys. Last season McNeese earned a No. 12 seed after going 30-4, but were eliminated in the first round after an 86-65 loss to Gonzaga.

However, no matter where his journey as a coach has taken him, Wade is still a Clemson man at heart. He won’t even schedule practices when the Tigers are playing football.

“The first time I hear that fight song, I may twirl my arm for the O-N,” Wade said jokingly. “I’ve been gone a long time, and I was on staff for a couple of years. I follow the football program very closely. We don’t practice when they play football. I’ve been gone a long time. It is a great place with great people. I still know a lot of folks there, and all my college friends will be sure to leave me some beautiful messages.”

On the court, Wade knows his team faces a huge challenge. One of the biggest issues will be trying to find a way to neutralize the Clemson bigs, Ian Schieffelin and Viktor Lakhin.

“Those guys are huge,” Wade said. “They are really big and can rebound the ball. They got a seven-footer in (Christain) Reeves, who we talked to in the portal. They got some size, almost all of those high-major teams will have some size. That will be the key is to rebound and getting on the defensive glass.”

And no matter the emotions he might feel in the leadup to the game, once it tips off, Wade will be laser-focused on getting his team into the second round.

“Once that ball goes up, I’m all McNeese.”

Photo courtesy of Gabriel Mayberry-Imagn Images