Just for a moment, it seemed like new NC State men’s basketball head coach Will Wade was trying to hide his self-confidence that borders on arrogance. Like he was trying to be a toned-down version of himself in front of the Wolfpack’s high rollers paying for his contract.

After he was introduced by McMurray Family Director of Athletics Boo Corrigan, he took a few minutes to thank Corrigan, McNeese State, the people in attendance and his wife and daughter in the crowd.

Wade talked about how he has grown since his time at LSU, where he was fired for multiple major recruiting violations, even though the FBI came up well short of proving those claims. He said then he was a little too arrogant at LSU, that’s what got him in trouble and NC State was getting the version of Wade who was still passionate and competitive without the brashness.

This wasn’t the Will Wade NC State fans were clamoring for. Where was the coach who confidently predicted McNeese State would go from 23 losses to 23 wins in his first year running the program? McNeese didn’t just win 23 games. It won 30 and made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 23 years in his first season at the helm.

After about four minutes of getting the dialed-back version of Wade, he began to raise his voice, saying, “Our time is right now.”

As he continued to raise his voice and his inflection became more confident, Wade offered a warning to the rest of the country.

“It’s going to be a reckoning for the ACC,” Wade said. “It’s going to be a reckoning for college basketball, and it’s coming, and it’s coming soon.”

Finally, the Will Wade NC State fans clamored for appeared. That’s the coach who has been described as a “gangster.” Yeah, it might come off as arrogant, but the 42-year-old has the credentials to back it up. He ranks seventh in win rate among active coaches with at least 10 years of experience, only behind Mark Few, Bill Self, John Calipari, Rick Pitino, Randy Bennett, Sean Miller and Tom Izzo.

Wade has never had a losing season, has won at least 18 games every season, made seven NCAA Tournaments and has won six regular-season and conference tournament titles. Before he got to LSU, the program had made three NCAA Tournaments in 12 years. In Wade’s five-year tenure, the Tigers made the tournament three times and won the SEC regular season championship. Since they fired him, they haven’t won more than 17 games or made the tournament.

At McNeese State, he doubled the number of NCAA Tournament appearances the program had before he got there while winning two conference tournaments on the way to a 58-11 record.

It’s why he has the self-belief to say something like this.

“I want to be very clear, this is not a rebuild,” Wade said. “We’re gonna be in the top part of the ACC next year, and we’re going to the NCAA Tournament. Make sure you got that on camera. This is going to be done. This will be done the right way, and this is going to be done quickly. We are here to win. We’re here to win the right way, and we’re going to be aggressive.”

Wade isn’t for everyone. His honesty and braggadocio can rub people the wrong way. When Wade was asked before McNeese State’s upset over Clemson in the NCAA Tournament if he had talked with NC State, he simply said, “Yes.”

That kind of transparency is rare in sports, let alone college basketball. Most of the time, when a coach is having conversations with a school behind the scenes, he/she denies it or deflects the question. Then, immediately after the season ends, the coach departs for the new job. Players wouldn’t get closure, and assistants would be left behind.

Well before the reports came out that Wade accepted the NC State job, he had told his players. When Wade and his McNeese State players were watching film on Clemson, the Tigers happened to be playing NC State, and they both laughed at the irony.

That mix of truthfulness and outward confidence could’ve easily deterred Corrigan from hiring him — especially since it’s his first revenue hire at the school. Corrigan could’ve made the so-called “safer” hire, choosing someone he knew like Georgia’s Mike White or former Wolfpack player and current assistant at Tennessee, Justin Gainey.

But after talking with Wade in person, and asking “real tough questions” about what happened at LSU, the choice was obvious. Wade, by far, had the best resume of those who were available, and Corrigan felt he was ready for his second chance at the Power Four level.

“He was open, he was honest,” Corrigan said. “He talked about how he’s grown, what he’s looked at, how he’s reflected on it, and you’ve heard it today, we’re getting a more mature version of Will Wade.”

That more mature version of Wade is someone who harnesses his confidence in a positive way to rally his players and fans like he did today. But at the same time, he’s no longer the arrogant coach who, when things didn’t go his way, would do unethical things like “make strong-ass offers.” Now, if a player doesn’t want to play for him, he tries to understand why and moves on to the next thing.

“Confidence is the way I define that as being secure in yourself,” Wade said. “What got me in trouble was thinking that this had to happen this way. If I didn’t get this, it was going to be the end of the world.”

“Confidence is, ‘Yeah, I want to get this, I want this, but if it doesn’t go this way, I’m not going to take a shortcut,’” Wade said. “There’s another way to go get the same thing done. This isn’t life or death. This isn’t the end. So I think that’s the balance between cockiness and confidence.”

The question before Wade was hired was whether NC State had enough resources and commitment to convince Wade to come. At the end of last season, Wade’s predecessor, Kevin Keatts, thought the program didn’t have enough NIL to compete. At Wade’s press conference, those concerns were put to bed.

“NC State men’s basketball has the resources we need for the future,” Corrigan said.

Wade said in his breakout interview that NC State had more in NIL and revenue sharing than he was initially told. Wade admitted he won’t have the most funding in the conference, but he will have enough to compete, and “that’s all you need.”

With a united fanbase, the proper resources and a more mature Will Wade, there’s little reason to doubt NC State men’s basketball’s potential to rise in the ACC and shake up college basketball. But don’t worry, that fire is still there — the unwavering belief that he’s the best coach in the country. It’s what makes him one of the winningest coaches in college basketball. He knows when to push, when to step back and how to stay just this side of the line between confident and cocky. The day of reckoning has commenced.

Will Wade. Still a “gangster.” Just smarter about it now.