Will Wade’s honesty, Kevin Willard’s public negotiation, and a Villanova coach search that rolls on

Will Wade was briefly banished from the sport once, a little ahead of his time when, as the LSU basketball coach, he was caught on a wiretap discussing a financial offer for a recruit.

Back in the spotlight with McNeese State, Wade was unabashed on Thursday after his team knocked off fifth-seeded Clemson in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. He has one foot out the door. He knows it. His players know it. As soon as McNeese’s run ends, a bow will be tied on the package that makes him the next coach at North Carolina State.

“I mean, here’s the thing,” Wade told reporters during his postgame press conference in Providence on Thursday night. “We can sit here and lie about it, but it is what it is.”

Wade wasn’t alone in being courted by others in the job market.

And he wasn’t going to act Thursday night like he was.

“There are five coaches right now negotiating with other schools,” he told reporters. “I mean, come on, it’s true. Villanova is trying to hire a coach out of the NCAA Tournament right now.”

There it was, the ongoing search for the next men’s basketball coach at Villanova catching a stray from a 42-year-old pariah-turned-desirable who might as well have gone from wiretapped to wired-up for sound in the pay-to-play era of college hoops.

Who was Wade talking about? It’s pretty easy to connect some dots.

Let’s start with the obvious answer in Maryland coach Kevin Willard, whose fourth-seeded Terrapins weren’t on the first-round schedule until Friday, but their coach was on the press conference run of show in Seattle. Willard, in his third year at Maryland after 12 at Seton Hall, has been linked to the Villanova job since Kyle Neptune was relieved of his duties last weekend.

That same weekend, a report from CBS Sports indicated Willard and Maryland were working on a new contract that would make him one of the highest-paid coaches in the sport. But Maryland athletic director Damon Evans appears to be on his way to the same post at Southern Methodist, ESPN reported Thursday, Willard has not yet signed his new contract, and seemed happy to negotiate in public on Thursday.

“It’s kind of tough to negotiate with somebody that’s maybe not here,” Willard told reporters.

» READ MORE: More than just hiring a new coach, Villanova’s next moves will test a theory on ideal roster building

He added that “fundamental changes” need to be made, like more money funneling his program’s way. Maryland is in the Big Ten, and schools in the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, and ACC are entering a football arms race in the new revenue-sharing world. Some power conference basketball coaches like Willard hope their programs don’t get left behind.

“I am confident that we’ll get things done,” Willard said. “It’s a little difficult right now, I’m not going to lie. But I’m confident that no matter who we’re negotiating with at the end of the day, this program’s going to be in a great spot. And that’s really my focus: this tournament, this team and this program.”

Villanova and its Big East counterparts aren’t big-budget powerhouses like the SEC, but what they will have in the new model is an ability to fund their basketball programs at a pretty high level without the need to feed a football team. It gives Villanova an advantage of sorts. On the other hand, Villanova might be a leverage play for Willard and others to get what they want. If Villanova wants Willard, prying him away from a Big Ten school would probably be a big win. If it’s being used, what does that say?

All of this is new ground for a university and basketball program that hasn’t had a real, deep coaching search in years, and certainly not in the modern world.

Willard isn’t the only NCAA Tournament coach Wade could have been referring to with reported links to the Villanova opening. There are New Mexico’s Richard Pitino, UCLA’s Mick Cronin, and Oklahoma’s Porter Moser, too.

Northwestern coach Chris Collins, whose team is not playing in the postseason, was seemingly in the mix, but an ESPN report Friday said Collins was in “deep discussions” on a new deal to remain at the school.

Perhaps that’s an indication Villanova has a few finalists, or maybe one or none. The only certainty, because he’d tell you himself: It’s not Will Wade.

» READ MORE: Opinion: Kyle Neptune was overwhelmed as Villanova’s head coach. The Wildcats need a dynamic leader.

Dante Allen decided to reopen his recruitment after Neptune’s firing. Allen had signed his letter of intent, but rules surrounding coaching changes gave him an out. Allen, a four-star combo guard from Florida, was Villanova’s only class of 2025 recruit.

His recruitment reopening made it safe to cross another name off the list of potential Villanova coaches, though it was probably pretty far down the list: Allen’s father, Malik, a Miami Heat assistant who played at Villanova from 1996 to 2000.