![]() It took him about 12 hours to make the trip through nearly 10 inches of snow. It was Wright’s first basketball job, and he was approaching it with gusto. He was heading north to scout a smart 6-foot-7 kid who was perfect for Rochester, a Division III school where the term “student athlete” actually applies. “Take the Thruway past Utica and into ‘Hansel and Gretel’ country,” as Neer describes the trip. University of Rochester basketball coach Mike Neer didn’t want his young assistant to make the seven-hour ride into the Adirondacks. It was the kind of snowfall that makes you want to hunker down at home and lay into the provisions. He brought them to the Sweet 16 on three other occasions and the Elite Eight once. He took the Wildcats to the Final Four in 2009. Without Wright, Villanova wouldn’t be selling out the Wells Fargo Center six times a year, and drawing another 12,000 or so for a tune-up game. Without Wright, there’s no way the Wildcats’ state-of-the-art practice facility would’ve risen from the parking lot macadam. He’s weathered early troubles both on and off the court to lift the program to heights few could’ve imagined. Wright has taken Villanova basketball from afterthought status to the top of the Big East, still the nation’s best college hoops conference. Pay no attention to that six-game slide that brought the 2010–11 season to a gruesome halt. “But he has a competitive edge, and that competitiveness allows him to succeed.”Īnd succeed he has. “He looks like a movie star, dresses to the nines and is almost too nice at times,” Pecora says. Since he took his first coaching job, ambition and drive have defined his essence as much as his appearance has defined his persona. That’s the thing about Wright: He does mean business. When he did, everybody laughed and clapped. The gym went silent, largely because everybody was wondering if Wright would get up. Returning to Villanova next season as an assistant coach, Lange remembers the time early in Wright’s tenure at Villanova when he ran full-speed after a ball and dove for it during a drill. “After a loss, I’ll text him and say, ‘I know you have a hat on.’ If he’s wearing a hat, he’s been up all night watching tape and is ready to go.” “Any time he wears a hat to practice, he’s ready to get after it,” says Billy Lange, a former Wright assistant at Villanova and most recent head coach at Navy. Gone is the pleasant demeanor that can turn even the most skeptical alumnus into a pennant-waving, check-writing disciple. On those days, he’s less the fashion plate and more the weary coach, searching for answers. Wander into a Villanova practice after a poor performance, and there isn’t anything perfect about anybody-particularly Wright. They’ll suffer the criticisms from those who think the polish is a bit too bright. They’ll handle the wisecracks from friend and foe alike. ![]() Granted, some might consider that a burden they wouldn’t mind shouldering. Look too good, and you can’t possibly have anything else going for you. People begin to think your GQ self is the whole package. ![]() That’s the problem with looking like George Clooney and out-dressing the competition. “Nobody calls me Tommy but my mother,” he says. Now the head coach at Fordham, Pecora can’t keep from laughing at the memory. Wright was still so angry that he’d thrown his coat against the wall. When they reached the locker room, Pecora asked Wright, “What are you doing? We told the kids not to do that, and you’re screaming at the refs.” Villanova University’s future men’s basketball coach was doing exactly what he had told his players not to do. As the teams left the court, Pecora looked for Wright but couldn’t find him. Just as Wright predicted, the referees were creative in their interpretation of the rules. The Dutchmen stayed close, but fell behind at the half when the Irish went on a late run. Hofstra responded to the challenge by playing its best first half of the year. “Before the game, Jay tells the team, ‘The officials are going to put it to us, but we can’t lose our composure,’” says Pecora. That first season, Hofstra traveled to Notre Dame University. There was nothing we could do with that team.” Then-assistant coach Tom Pecora sums it up better: “The running joke was that, during the first year, all of Jay’s halftime adjustments involved his tie, hair and handkerchief. “We were ranked something like 310th out of 320 teams,” Wright recalls. Going back 10 years, we highlight a classic interview from Villanova coach Jay Wright about his life as a successful basketball coach.īack in 1994, when Jay Wright took over as head coach at Hofstra University, the Flying Dutchmen-as they were then known-were downright rotten.
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