Villanova basketball coach, Jay Wright retires after 21 seasons
Villanova men’s basketball coach Jay Wright announced his retirement on his Twitter page, Wednesday.
“Over the past 21 seasons, I have had the opportunity to live out a professional dream as the head coach at Villanova,” Wright said in a statement. “(Wife) Patty and I have been blessed to work with incredible, gifted young men who allowed us to coach them and brought us unmatched joy. We cannot overstate our gratitude to the players, coaches and administrators who have been with us on this path.”
— Jay Wright (@VUCoachJWright) April 21, 2022
Rev. Peter M. Donohue, Villanova’s president, and athletic director Mark Jackson said in a joint statement.
“We would like to start by expressing our immense gratitude to Jay Wright for his incredible leadership of Villanova Men’s Basketball for the past 21 years,” “He has led our storied program with class, humility and grace, leaving an indelible impact on this community.
“Jay’s legacy at Villanova extends well beyond the numerous awards, accolades and championships. He will be forever known to our community as Villanova’s winningest coach, who did things the ‘Wright’ way, guiding, developing, and empowering the student-athletes who played for him to not only be better on the basketball court but in their personal lives.”
Before Wright, 60, joined Villanova in 2001,he was a head coach at Hofstra for seven seasons.
During his 28 total seasons as a head coach, Wright compiled a 642-282 record with 10 regular-season conference titles, seven conference tournament championships and two national titles. Villanova reached the Final Four this past season, falling to eventual champion Kansas.
Wright was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.
His successor will be Kyle Neptune, who was officially announced as the next head coach at Villanova on Wednesday night. Neptune spent eight seasons serving as an assistant under Wright prior to serving as Fordham’s head coach this past season.
I’ll say he had a good run and no its not over as he ia going to be part of the committee.
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