Wade leaves Chattanooga to return to VCU

Apr 7, 2015 - 5:44 PM Richmond, VA (SportsNetwork.com) - Will Wade has been named the new men's basketball coach at VCU, returning to the Rams after two years as head coach at Chattanooga.

Wade guided the Mocs to a record of 40-25 in his two seasons and earned 2014 Southern Conference Coach of the Year honors. He was an assistant at VCU for four seasons under Shaka Smart, who left last week to take the vacancy at Texas.

Smart's first hire when he took the head coaching job at VCU in 2009 was Wade, a Nashville native who spent two seasons as an assistant at Harvard before moving to Richmond.

While at VCU, Wade helped Smart guide the Rams to four postseason appearances, including three trips to the NCAA Tournament and a surprising run to the 2011 Final Four.

Chattanooga hired Wade in May 2013 and the Mocs went 18-15 in his first season of 2013-14, including a 12-4 mark in the Southern Conference, earning a berth in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. He was named the Southern Conference's top coach that season and the Mocs followed up with a mark of 22-10 this past season.

Wade was also a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Clemson, in 2005-06 and director of basketball operations in 2006-07.