Margaret Wade retired from coaching after the 1977–78 season with a career record of 157–23 and a 51-game winning streak.
On September 1, 1978, Margaret Wade officially retired from her position as head coach of the Delta State University women's basketball program, closing out a coaching career that had redefined the sport nationally.
Wade's final coaching record stood at an extraordinary 157 wins and 23 losses, a winning percentage that ranks among the best in the history of collegiate basketball, men's or women's. Central to this remarkable tenure was a 51-game winning streak, a testament to the sustained excellence and consistency she instilled in her program during the mid-to-late 1970s.
Her retirement came just one season after completing an unprecedented three consecutive AIAW national championships (1975, 1976, and 1977), a dynasty that had transformed Delta State from a small regional college into a nationally recognized powerhouse in women's basketball. Wade's decision to step away from coaching at this peak allowed her legacy to be defined by uninterrupted success.
Following her retirement, Wade's influence on the sport continued to grow, most notably through the establishment of the Wade Trophy the previous year and, in 1978, her historic induction as the first woman in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Her retirement marked not an end but a transition point, as she moved from active coaching to becoming a revered elder stateswoman of women's basketball, whose methods and achievements continued to influence coaches and players for generations.