In the midst of the NBA playoffs, more than two weeks after the end of his 21st season at Villanova and several years before most thought that would happen, Naismith Memorial Hall of Famer and two-time national champion coach Jay Wright announced Wednesday night announced his resignation.
To call it shocking is an understatement.
This is a man who’s only 60 years old, in a sport where coaches often work well into their 70s. A man who was training in his fourth Final Four earlier this month. A man who had a top 20 team coming back.
So why retire now?
Wright offered no real explanation in his announcement on Twitter – but said he was “excited to hand over the reins to Villanova’s next coach”. In other words, he’s looking forward to leaving his job, which is more demanding, chaotic and exhausting than ever – and those next few words are mine, not him.
Again, Wright hasn’t said anything about it — publicly. But sources say he, like many of his peers, had just reached a point where the job wasn’t nearly as fun as it used to be because there are all the things coaches have to deal with now that weren’t before . Name, image and likeness rights were long overdue. The one-time transfer waiver is fair. Alternative options for high school prospects are great. Social media is fun. But even those coaches who agree with each of the previous four sentences – and believe me, not all do – acknowledge that the combination of these things has made their job complex and in many ways unappealing. Do you really think it’s a coincidence that North Carolina’s Roy Williams, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Villanova’s Jay Wright all retired within the space of 13 months — or that Maryland’s coach (Mark Turgeon) and Louisville’s coach (Chris Mack ) just stopped right away? mid-season?
I don’t
Needless to say, these men were all paid incredibly well to do their jobs — but that’s the whole point. Once you’ve made more money than you’ll likely ever need, and if you’re not just addicted to being in the gym and competing during the season, why continue doing a job that has your attention almost 365 days a year per year required? if you have a family you love, other interests in general and a desire to relax a bit?
I probably wouldn’t.
And that’s a problem that needs to be addressed.
The one thing every former college basketball coach turned NBA coach says they love is how it allows them to A) go back to just coaching basketball without all the “other stuff,” and B) an offseason of any shape to enjoy. Right now, college basketball coaches are constantly busy with “the other stuff” with no real window to comfortably take even a week’s vacation. The season is amazing. The off-season is unpredictable and in some ways even more overwhelming. As many coaches have told me over the past year — that is, since the one-off transfer waiver became a reality and since NIL rights became recruiting tools — becoming a college basketball coach these days is a tough and frustrating road to a lot of money.
Most will continue to do it because they still love it.
Some keep doing it for the money.
But the truth is, a greater number of great college basketball coaches are likely to spend the coming years and decades making enough money in their 40s and 50s to leave it all behind at an earlier age than their originally anticipated retirement age. Age for great college basketball coaches. In a way, it’s impossible not to believe that Jay Wright did just that. So it’s perfectly reasonable to wish him luck in retirement, but also to be concerned about what it says about the profession he’s leaving.