After more than 40 years in the coaching ranks, Hopkinsville native Tommy Wade announced his retirement, Jacksonville State announced University on Friday.
Wade, who has been an assistant basketball coach at Jacksonville State for the last eight seasons, served as an assistant coach for head coach Ray Harper at Kentucky Wesleyan, Oklahoma City and Jacksonville State. He also served as an assistant to Travis Ford for several seasons at Oklahoma State.
Other stops along the way for Wade included stints at Missouri State, Murray State, South Alabama, and St. Catherine College.
Wade helped guide the Gameocks to an Ohio Valley Conference championship and its first NCAA Tournament bid in 2016. Five years later, he helped the Gamecocks go 21-11 and win the ASUN conference title.
Harper called Wade a “special person” and said he will be “deeply missed by our coaching staff, players, and community.”
While at Oklahoma City, Wade and Harper helped guide the team to back-to-back NAIA Division I championships. Wade also was a coach of the 2001 Kentucky Wesleyan Division II National Championship team. While there, the Panthers reached the national championship game four times.
Wade was an assistant coach for Bill Musselman and Bob Welch at South Alabama, and helped them to two Sun Belt Conference championships and was part of an OVC title team at Murray State.
A native of Hopkinsville, Wade was an all-state player at Hopkinsville High School in 1975> he played collegiately at Murray State for two seasons before transferring to Southeast Missouri State. He played professionally in Argentina for three years and one season in Europe before entering the coaching ranks.
Wade told WHOP in a text Sunday evening that his health is good, he just felt it was the right time to retire.
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