Margaret Wade returned to Delta State as head coach, reviving the women's basketball program for the 1973–74 season.
On November 1, 1973, Margaret Wade began her tenure as head coach of the newly revived Delta State University women's basketball team, marking her return to the institution more than four decades after her own playing career had been abruptly ended by the program's cancellation.
Wade, then in her sixties and with decades of experience teaching physical education and coaching at the high school level, brought a wealth of knowledge and a fierce determination to establish Delta State as a national power in women's basketball. Her hiring came at a pivotal moment for women's collegiate athletics nationally, just as Title IX (passed in 1972) was beginning to reshape opportunities for female athletes.
Under Wade's leadership, the Delta State Lady Statesmen would go on to become one of the most dominant programs in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), winning three consecutive national championships from 1975 to 1977 and posting a career coaching record of 157–23, including a remarkable 51-game winning streak.
This tenure represented a full-circle moment for Wade personally, transforming the institution that had once eliminated women's basketball into a proving ground for the sport's national legitimacy. Her success helped demonstrate the viability and appeal of women's collegiate basketball at a critical juncture, paving the way for the sport's later incorporation into the NCAA.