Bob Wade

From Hoopedia

Bob Wade is the former men's college basketball head coach for the University of Maryland who helmed the team from 1986 to 1989.

Prior to his coaching stint at Maryland, Wade had coached at Baltimore's Dunbar High School for ten years, where he compiled a 341-25 record and was often ranked in the nation's top 10.

Wade was originally hired to replace Lefty Driesell, Maryland's basketball coach of 17 years. Driesell resigned over concerns about the death of All-American forward Len Bias and subsequent revelations about his players' academic performances. In high school, Wade had been a strong disciplinarian, and he was appealing to University of Maryland administrators who were attempting to clean up the basketball program. He was also hired in order to increase diversity as he became the first African American coach of a major sport in the Atlantic Coast Conference, despite the fact that he had no prior experience in coaching a team at the collegiate level.

Wade resigned on May 12, 1989 after three years as head coach, compiling a 36-50 record. Not only was he unable to rebuild the basketball program during his tenure, but his resignation came amid allegations that he broke NCAA rules in dealing with players and recruits, and as a result the university received severe sanctions. His resignation would also affect the university in other ways. Noting the lack of institutional control and perceiving his departure as mistreatment of an African American coach, blue chip high school players from Baltimore City would largely avoid Maryland until Keith Booth chose to attend Maryland in 1993.