For three decades, Jay did it his way, the Wright way

Jack Styczynski (left) interviews Jay Wright at Madison Square Garden in Big East Tournament. (Photo by Marc Ernay/1010 WINS, via Jack Styczynski)

By Jack Styczynski (@hoopsvista)

Special To Daly Dose Of Hoops

I'll never forget the first time I met him.

Jay Wright was entering his fourth of seven seasons as Hofstra's head basketball coach, and was holding a preseason practice. An alumnus of the school, I was on hand to write a story on his sophomore sensation Speedy Claxton for a new and relatively unknown web site.

Before things got started, Wright asked me my name and affiliation, and after the team broke its huddle, he called me over and said to the players, "This is Jack Styczynski with College Hoops Insider, and I want you guys to help him out today." 

When the day was over and I had everything I needed, Wright told me his sister was in the media business, he understood the profession, and he would always treat its members right. I had no idea where his career would ultimately go, but I was impressed. And I never saw him deviate from his promise.

A few years later when I was running the Hofstra site at Rivals.com, I got an even closer look at his program as he allowed me to spend an entire game day with the team. By that time, he had already led the school to its first NCAA Tournament berth in 23 years and I had a better idea he was headed for bigger things — and soon — but still had no clue I was hanging with a future Hall of Famer.

After leading the Flying Dutchmen to a second straight Big Dance, Villanova came calling. Wright had always followed the program, married a Villanova cheerleader, and eventually became an assistant coach there under Rollie Massimino. It was obviously a perfect fit. He had told me during that game day at Hofstra that Massimino had taught him about creating a family atmosphere and not to "mess with happy." He would achieve both as head coach on the Main Line, making it his ultimate stop.

Although I never covered his Villanova teams the way I did for his last two seasons at Hofstra, I did get his cooperation many more times for various stories on his squad or more general college basketball topics. He was a great quote and the only coach who ever asked me to e-mail him my work after it was written. I got a little bit of a laugh out of the fact that he always referred to me as "buddy" in person (as he did with a lot of the media), even though we had corresponded electronically many times and he introduced me to his players by name the first day we met.

Wright's 21 years as the head man at Villanova were not all smooth. The Wildcats fell short of the NCAA Tournament his first three, and after he got the ball rolling and they made the Final Four in 2009, things got rough again with a pair of late-season flameouts and a losing campaign between 2010 and 2012. By this time, I was a full-blown fan, so I was obviously thrilled when he turned things around once more, thanks largely to a point guard named Ryan Arcidiacono and a Big East Conference that was reconfigured in 2013 such that his program became the new king. By 2016, Arch was passing the ball to Kris Jenkins and "bang," Wright was a national champion.

Two years later, he had a juggernaut. The 2018 Wildcats ran through the NCAA Tournament with six double-digit victories and a squad featuring five future NBA players (not to mention Phil Booth). Now, Wright had two national titles and was clearly among the greatest ever college basketball coaches. The previous year, a panel of journalists had already ranked him the second best currently in the game, behind only Duke's Mike Krzyzewski.

In 2021, Wright was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Last month, he led his fourth team to the Final Four. And this past Wednesday, he retired from coaching at the relatively young age of 60 the same way he does everything, with class.

The Wright way.

What a ride.

Jay Wright patrols Villanova sideline against Seton Hall, with then-assistant Kyle Neptune (seated, first from Wright’s left) looking on. Neptune will succeed Wright as Wildcats’ head coach after one season at Fordham. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)