Report: Will Wade, LSU hire Vernon Hamilton as fourth assistant coach

New LSU head men’s basketball coach Will Wade has reportedly hired Vernon Hamilton to be the fourth assistant on his Tigers bench, according to Glenn Guilbeau of Tiger Rag. Hamilton reunites with Wade after previously serving on his staff at NC State, McNeese State, and LSU the first time around.

Hamilton was reportedly seen representing LSU at the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches banquet on Saturday night, where he announced former Tigers forward Naz Reid as the LABC professional player of the year, per Guilbeau. Reid is currently playing with the Minnesota Timberwolves in the NBA Playoffs.

Hamilton fills out a new-look LSU coaching staff that already includes former head coaches Johnny Jones, Rick Stansbury, and Damon Stoudamire. Stoudamire went 24-55 overall and 19-39 in three seasons as Georgia Tech‘s head coach (2024-26), while Jones stepped down from his role as Texas Southern‘s head coach to rejoin the Tigers, a program he once led from 2012-17. Stansbury, who was previously a head coach at Mississippi State and Western Kentucky, spent the past two seasons as an assistant at Memphis.

The 41-year-old Hamilton has been a key member of Wade’s staff since his first LSU tenure in Baton Rouge when he served in a non-coaching role as assistant to the head coach in 2020-21 and director of player development in 2021-22. Hamilton then joined Wade as an assistant coach on Wade’s McNeese staff between 2023-25 before following him to Raleigh last season.

But Hamilton’s relationship with Wade goes back even farther. Hamilton was a four-year starter at Clemson between 2004-07, during which Wade was working as a graduate assistant. Following several years playing overseas and in the NBA G League, Hamilton got into coaching as a graduate assistant at his alma mater from 2014-16 before joining Wade’s LSU staff in 2020.

Wade infamously left the Wolfpack after just one season in Raleigh to rejoin the Tigers, where he coached from 2017-22, going 105-51 before being fired amid NCAA recruiting violations. This time around, Wade has his eye on making history with LSU, one way or another.

“Make no mistake, this is home,” Wade said Monday. “I wasn’t born in Louisiana, but Louisiana’s home for me, and me and my family and so, you know, we’re coming back to make history. We’re gonna make history one way or the other … to try to hang a banner, win a national championship. Or I’m going to be the first coach fired from the same school twice. But one way or another, one way or another, we’re going to make history.”

Wade replaces Matt McMahon, who was fired on March 26, the same day Wade’s hiring was made official. McMahon went just 60-70 overall and never made an NCAA Tournament in four seasons in Baton Rouge after replacing Wade in 2022.