Former LSU basketball coach Will Wade depicted as outlaw 'Willy the Kid' in McNeese video

In the years since he was linked to the college basketball corruption scandal, Will Wade has often been described as an outlaw.

The label was only metaphorical, of course: But recently, the former LSU men’s basketball coach got to play an actual one on screen.

With the McNeese coach slated to return from a 10-game suspension Wednesday when his team takes on Southern Miss, he starred in a video released Monday depicting him as an outlaw while the program triumphantly announced his return to the program, where he’s in his first season as coach.

REQUIRED READING: LSU football: Who's In? Who's Out? Tracking the Tigers in the transfer portal entering 2024 season

“Willy the Kid is free,” the message read.

In the 39-second video, Wade, wearing all black and a mask covering most of his face, is shown riding on a horse and arriving at a saloon, where several of his McNeese players are dressed in cowboy hats and gathered around a table playing cards. Wade approaches the bar, is handed a drink and pulls down his mask to reveal his face while turning to the camera.

While the theme of the video ties in nicely with McNeese, which has a cowboy mascot, it’s also illustrative of the path Wade took to the Lake Charles, Louisiana school.

A 2017 conversation between Wade and Christian Dawkins, a sports agency runner who was one of the central figures in the FBI and Justice Department’s investigation into college basketball in 2017, was intercepted by an FBI wiretap. On the call, Wade famously referenced a “strong-ass offer” to a recruit.

After the call became public, Wade was suspended for the remainder of the season. LSU, which was 25-5 at the time of the suspension, lost in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. He was fired by the university in March 2022 shortly after LSU was served a notice of allegations from the NCAA that detailed a number of recruiting violations. Wade went 105-51 in five seasons at LSU.

Wade was hired by McNeese in March 2023 and three months later was handed a 10-game suspension by the NCAA’s Independent Accountability Resolution Panel as a result of three Level I violations the IARP found that LSU committed while Wade was its coach.

McNeese went 8-2 in Wade’s absence, which included a season-opening win against Atlantic 10 power VCU, where Wade coached from 2015-17.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Former LSU coach Will Wade depicted as outlaw 'Willy the Kid' in video