Benjamin Wade

Benjamin "Coach" Wade (born September 18, 1971) is an American reality television personality best known for being a contestant on Survivor: Tocantins, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, and Survivor: South Pacific. He grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, and later moved to Susanville, California, to conduct the Susanville Symphony and pursue "adventures" in Hollywood. Early life Benjamin Wade grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, the son of William and Cherri Wade. He attended Tyson Middle School and West High School in Knoxville. He began his musical career as a teenager, playing trumpet in the Knoxville Youth Symphony Orchestra and making appearances with the Indianapolis Symphony, the Knoxville Symphony, and the New York Metropolitan Opera. He majored in business administration at the University of Tennessee and graduated in 1993, before obtaining a master's degree in music education from the University of Nevada. Soccer In 1997, Wade was hired at Simpson University in Redding, California, to coach the women's soccer team. He then spent 13 years coaching collegiate soccer teams and ended up at Southwest Baptist University from 2005 to 2009. After his appearance on Survivor, Wade was fired as head women's soccer coach for the university. The university's athletic director Brent Good had fired Wade for not telling the school that he would be taking two months off in order to participate in Survivor. Good stated in an interview, "He [Wade] said he was going to be gone for a week...the week went beyond that, which went beyond that, which went beyond that." According to Good, Wade left the team with two weeks left in the season in October but did not return to the school until December. In 2010, he signed a contract to coach the men's soccer team at Lassen College, a community college located in Susanville. On December 10, 2013, Wade was hired as the first ever men's soccer head coach at Lake Tahoe Community College. After 20 years of coaching collegiate soccer he retired from that position in November 2015, to spend more time with his family. Wade has come out of retirement to take over the reins of the Redding Royals FC semi-pro soccer team, starting with the 2017 season. Music