I was a student at Villanova University between 1999-2003. In that four year span the men's basketball team was mediocre at best. They did not make a single NCAA tournament appearance making my graduating the class the first class ever to not see a team go to the tournament. It broke my heart for a couple reasons. One of those reasons was that I chose to apply to Villanova because of their basketball history. My friends and I painted our faces for every home game (I even dyed my hair blue for basketball season each year) and we cheered proudly even when the team couldn't figure anything out.
In 2001 we saw the hiring of Jay Wright. At the time he was this hot shot coach that wore very expensive looking suits. He had a reputation of being a solid recruiter but still had some things to learn about coaching. I was able to watch a couple seasons in person where that was true. Wright brought in some high profile players that showed a lot of promise, but they weren't able to take down some of the Big East giants.
Over the years Jay and his coaching staff did figure it out. They ended up changing the game of college basketball. Wright was one of the first coaches to really push for a guard heavy offense, essentially eliminating the big man, which is what we see a lot of now. Over the last 21 years Wright brought the Wildcats to 16 NCAA tournaments, 4 Final Fours and 2 National Championships. It is with sadness that I report he has decided to step down from the team and retire from coaching.
Wright was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021 and he's 'only' 60 years old. He could have many years left but I appreciate his decision to walk away now. We've been seeing this a lot with athletes recently where young talented athletes are retiring in their prime to live their lives. I love it. Life before work is always something I support.
You will be missed, Jay. Thank you for the last 21 years of reasons to cheer on our team.