Jay Wright was all class. College basketball will miss him.
There is a lot bad about college basketball these days. The team that just won the men’s national championship is potentially facing serious NCAA sanctions. The sport — all of college sports, really — is in the midst of chaos because of two policy changes that are absolutely fair but wreaking havoc: the name, image and likeness liberalization and, far more importantly, the transfer portal, which apparently is causing players to change schools if the day’s weather forecast proves inaccurate.
Two of the best men to coach the sport — Roy Williams and Mike Krzyzewski — retired within the past year. Williams is 71 and Krzyzewski is 75; neither decision was a shock. But Jay Wright is 60, looks (maybe) 50 and had Villanova on the kind of roll few programs ever approach. The Wildcats won the national championship in 2016 and 2018 and reached this season’s Final Four. They have been to 16 of the past 17 NCAA tournaments and averaged 29 wins since 2014, including a pandemic-shortened 18-7 record two seasons ago.
That’s why Wright’s retirement announcement Wednesday night caused the kind of shock few things in sports can.
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Wright is already in the Hall of Fame and deservedly so. To say he has nothing left to prove is a vast understatement. To say the sport will miss him is an even bigger understatement.
The question, then, is why? Why would someone at the top of his profession and apparently still at the peak of his powers walk away after a 30-8 season coaching a team he clearly enjoyed?
There are theories everywhere. Some people think he wants the open Los Angeles Lakers job. With his good looks, sense of style and outgoing personality, Wright definitely would be able to handle L.A. But he has been a Philadelphia guy almost his entire life. He and his wife, Patty, recently built a new house there.
Theory No. 2 may make more sense: Doc Rivers wants to move back to Los Angeles and take the Lakers job. That would open up the Philadelphia 76ers job, which Wright has been offered in the past — and which would mean he could test the NBA waters without moving.
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The last theory is the simplest and makes the most sense: Wright is burned out, not so much on coaching basketball but on everything that comes with coaching basketball. It isn’t just NIL and the transfer portal, although those are exhausting for all big-time college coaches. It’s being Jay Wright.
Wright is a never-say-no guy. He has been heavily involved in the successful Philadelphia branch of Coaches vs. Cancer since its beginning. He returns every phone call and never turns down a friend. He and Krzyzewski are the first phone calls for any coach who is out of work and seeking help or advice.
As great as he was in every way, Krzyzewski was always a polarizing figure. Wright is anything but that. If there is someone out there who doesn’t like Wright, I have never met him, nor have I ever read or heard any serious criticism of Wright.
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“Just a remarkable career and life,” said La Salle Coach Fran Dunphy, who coached against Wright at Pennsylvania and Temple. “He’s done all you could ask someone to do, on and off the court, for a long time. If he wants to step away right now, he’s more than earned that right.”
Many Villanova fans were skeptical when the team went to the NIT in its first three seasons under Wright. That quickly changed when Wright turned the program around — and kept it that way for the next 18 seasons.
And Wright wasn’t just a guy who never said no; he was a guy no one could ever say no to.
When Rollie Massimino suddenly left Villanova to become the coach at UNLV in 1992, there were hard feelings on both sides. Massimino didn’t set foot on the Villanova campus until 2005, when Wright convinced him to return for the 20th-anniversary celebration of the 1985 national championship team.
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During that year’s Final Four in St. Louis, Wright organized a reunion of former Massimino assistants to celebrate the anniversary of Villanova’s stunning upset of Georgetown. As the night wore on, everyone took turns telling Massimino stories, specifically about how difficult it could be to work for him.
When Massimino said he was going to call it a night, Wright shook his head vehemently.
“You aren’t going anywhere,” he said. “You are going to stay here and listen to us kill you until we say you can go. It’s our turn.”
Massimino laughed — and stayed. “I guess I deserve it,” he said. The laughs continued deep into the night.
Wright was on a recruiting trip when he got a call from Mike Sheridan, his longtime sports information director. “Coach, did we just sign someone from Florida?” he asked.
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Wright was baffled. “No, Mike,” he said. “Why?”
“Because I’ve got calls from every news outlet in Florida looking for you,” Sheridan said. “Before I answer, I’d like to know what I’m talking about.”
Wright had no answer. Sheridan started calling people back. The calls weren’t about recruiting. They were Massimino coming out of retirement to coach Northwood University, an NAIA school that was launching a basketball program. At his introductory news conference, Massimino announced that Northwood’s first game would be at home — against Villanova.
“Never said a word to me about it,” Wright would say, laughing whenever he retold the story.
Villanova played the game. That’s Jay Wright. (That’s also Massimino.)
Several years ago, when I was hosting a radio show, I asked Jay to come on one night — a last-second type of thing. “What time?” he asked and took down the studio number.
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He was about a minute late to call. Naturally, I gave him a hard time about it.
“John, I had to find a spot with a signal,” he said. “I’m at a high school game. I had to walk outside, and it’s about 20 degrees out here.”
That’s also Jay Wright. I offered to cut the segment short or reschedule. He said, “I’m already frozen — I’m fine.”
He probably will coach again — whether right away or, more likely, in a year or two. Given the state of college basketball, he might want to try the NBA. Ultimately, whatever he decides to do, he will do well.
To replace him, Villanova hired Kyle Neptune, a former Wright assistant who was the coach at Fordham this past season. As with Wright, there will be a transition period of some kind. Ultimately, Villanova will be fine.
But for those of us who love college basketball, this was a sad day.
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