In a shocking decision that will resonate around college sports, longtime Vilanova men’s basketball coach Jay Wright, 60, has decided to step down after 21 years at the helm of Wildcats, CBS Sports sources said on Wednesday. Wright, who led Vilanova to a pair of national championships, called an impromptu meeting with his team to share the news of his retirement.
During the meeting, Wright said that Ford coach Kyle Neptune will replace him in the management of the Vilanova program, CBS Sports sources said. Neptune was an assistant to Wright from 2013-21.
Wright, who is already a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, has begun to seriously consider retiring last season, a source said. He approached his decision in March. In recent weeks, Vilanova’s strong brokers have held discussions with Wright to see if the coach will change his mind.
After his fourth appearance in the Final Four, Wright decided to leave the agility of college basketball. In private, he shared his disappointment with some of the significant changes in the way the sport works. He has also gone through some understandable burnout with the hardness of the work, a source said.
Vilanova has been one of the leading college basketball programs, rising to elite status with Wright over the past decade. The Wildcats won national championships in 2016 and 2018, while qualifying for the Final Four in 2009 and 2022. Nova has played in the NCAA tournament in 16 of the last 17 seasons when the event took place, missing the postseason entirely once in 2012. d.
Wright ended his career with a record of 642-282, combining 21 seasons in Vilanova with seven in Hofstra, where he made 122-85 with a record of 50-12 and two appearances in the NCAA tournament in his last two campaigns.
The two-time coach of the year Naismith and the six-time coach of the year in the Big East finished 520-197 in Vilanova, while the program dominated the conference. The Wildcats have won eight Big East Championships in the regular season (seven in the last nine seasons) and five Big East Tournament titles, while winning the top three in the NCAA nine times since 2009.
Why now?
As Wright considered retiring for a significant period of time, the noise of an impending decision began to loosen and grow louder earlier Wednesday. Instead of allowing them to stay, Wright immediately called a meeting with the team – before a season banquet scheduled for Thursday night – to make the announcement, CBS Sports sources said.
His decision to retire is not health-related, but rather a case where he is ready to take a break from coaching, sources said. The combination of burnout and a career of considerable success has created a scenario in which Wright has nothing to prove.
Will the NBA call?
Maybe, but Wright has no plans to train in the NBA. It would be really surprising to see him do it at this stage of his life, a source told CBS Sports. The source added: “He got his taste for the Olympics and said he could never, ever train these boys in 82 games.”
Add Comment