FRA graduate Will Wade will be VCU's new coach

Will Wade, a Franklin Road Academy graduate who is now the men's basketball coach at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, accepted an offer Monday to be the coach at Virginia Commonwealth, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Sources told the newspaper details of the deal would be finalized Tuesday.

Wade, 32, interviewed for the position, which came open last week after Shaka Smart left VCU to become the coach at Texas.

Rice coach Mike Rhoades and current VCU assistant Jeremy Ballard also interviewed.

Rhoades informed VCU officials Monday afternoon that he had decided to remain at Rice, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Wade was then offered the job.

Wade, who graduated from FRA in 2001 after serving as a manager on the basketball team, was an assistant for four seasons at VCU before taking over at Chattanooga in 2013.

He posted a 40-25 record in two seasons at Chattanooga.

Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 and on Twitter @MikeOrganWriter.