City of Basketball Love

Kevin Cooney (@KevinCooney)
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One day, the building that Villanova plays its basketball games in will likely have its court named after him. There could be a statue standing out on Lancaster Avenue to capture his flawless suits and his outward sideline calm. And the name Jay Wright will easily roll off the tongue with the other legends of Philadelphia basketball - Ramsey, Magee, Litwack and Chaney - with reverence and decorum. 

And yet, it is easy now to forget about how it all started – and how it almost never got off the ground at all – back in 2001.

The marriage that led Wright to Villanova almost ended up in - of all places - Piscataway and Rutgers basketball. It took some really quick actions by then-Villanova athletic director Vince Nicastro to swoop in and change college basketball history perhaps a day before Wright was set to head to New Jersey’s state university.

“The people who were around Jay at Villanova at the time he was an assistant [under Rollie Massimino] loved him," Nicastro said in a 2016 interview during Villanova’s run to a national championship. “It wasn't just basketball people, either. It was the secretaries. It was the custodians. It was just about everyone.”

And on Sunday night, Wright admitted that destiny may have been made from that decision. Because it’s hard to imagine a more perfect fit than the Council Rock grad and Villanova – one that was etched forever on Sunday when Wright was introduced as a member of the 2021 class of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame during a special in Springfield, Mass.

“None of this happens if I’m not the head coach at Villanova,” Wright said during his Zoom call with Philadelphia reporters Sunday evening “This is as much about the head coach of Villanova going into the Hall of Fame. Everyone who has come here has been successful. I’ve said it a million times- there’s no coaches that haven’t been successful. And that’s why I think this is the best place to coach college basketball. I feel like it was God’s plan and he put me on this journey. And I’ve reflected on that.”

Jay Wright (center) and the 2018 Villanova men's basketball team pose for photos at their second championship parade in three years. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Normally, a Hall of Fame honor is the capstone on a career. But Wright - who will turn 60 on Christmas Eve - already has the legacy moment and can add to the honor with several more chances to grab a third national title and move into an elite grouping of coaches that has John Wooden, Mike Krzyzewski, Adolph Rupp, Roy Williams, Jim Calhoun and Bobby Knight in it. 

“I look at it as a blessing,” Wright said. “Everyone else in that class is players, so they aren’t playing anymore. But I don’t want this to affect my passion or my drive. I don’t think it will.”

What makes the accomplishment more remarkable isn’t that Wright has somehow enjoyed two magic carpet rides to titles. Under him, Villanova has been a steady presence in the national conversation for two decades. And while Wright loves to preach about the history of the program under Massimino (who should have earned a spot in Springfield at some point for his overall contributions to the game), Lappas, Jack Kraft and Al Severance, it is also important to realize that the program certainly is in a much higher light both locally and nationally under Wright. And that’s not a slap at the names mentioned above, but a testament to how Wright has changed the game.

“Anyone who coaches here is going to be successful,” Wright said. “The tradition has always been here and the success has always been here. I really believe this is the best place - I don’t say that because I’m there, I truly look at this as I look at college coaching.”

Villanova was rarely a destination spot for America’s best recruits. Massimino’s best talent era was the 1982-86 era when he got Ed Pinckney, Dwayne McClain, John Pinone and Gary McLane along with Harold Presley and Harold Jensen. All but Pinone made up the core of the 1985 National championship teams. Pinckney played 12 years in the NBA, but Presley (four years), McClain (one year), Pinone (one year) didn’t have long stays within the league. Rollie had great teams, but he didn’t bring in great pros – that was left to Georgetown, Syracuse and St. John’s in the Big East. 

Contrast that to Wright’s core group of NBA guys in Kyle Lowry, Josh Hart, Jalen Brunson, Donte Divincenzo, Eric Paschall and others who have gone on to play in the Association. And that’s not even counting Wright finding the unheralded guys like Ryan Arcidiacono and Colin Gillespie who end up being glue guys for teams that have deep postseason aspirations. When you are able as a recruiter to not just pick at the top of the crop, but find the pieces to surround them – it is a wonderful thing. It is fair to believe that Wright has done that job better than anyone else in the city’s rich basketball history. 

And perhaps the best thing that Wright has done is a subtle one - he basically has helped take some of the edge off of the relationship between the city and the Wildcats program. For a long time, Villanova - fairly or not - was looked at as the snobby relative who looked down their nose at the community it was a part of because they were more interested in hanging at the cool kids table following the ’85 title. 

Some of that was Rollie’s attitude and how it led to the perception that the school was the driving force behind the fracturing of the Big 5 in the late 1980s. (That’s not a totally accurate assessment, by the way. There were other ones at play, as well.) Lappas suffered from the idea that he often presented an image of constant whining – again, something that wasn’t entirely rooted in facts. (Nova fans never forgave Lappas for the quick tournament exits, including the unforgivable loss to Old Dominion in 1995.)

Try to find one person who says a bad thing about Jay Wright in Philadelphia basketball. You just can’t. He’s Mr. Philadelphia- going to the Eagles Super Bowl parade, spending his time at the Jersey Shore, versed in the history of the Big 5 and the great teams/players because he lived it as a fan. Even the St. Joe’s or Temple fan in your life will give a grudging respect to the Wildcats coach, how he handles the program and how he has the incredible ability to say the right thing after every situation.

Even on Sunday night, Wright hit every note properly. There was no chest thumping, but more of a humbling realization on how good things are. And how both he and Villanova ended up making the right decision on that early spring day 20 years ago.