Villanova's Jay Wright Announces Retirement After 21 Seasons

Villanova head coach Jay Wright announced on Wednesday that he will be retiring from coaching after 21 seasons with the program, per his Twitter, stunning the entire college basketball community.

It’s a surprising announcement, given that Wright is only 60, that ends the era of one of the best coaches of the 21st century and in the Big East. Wright brought the Wildcats to 16 NCAA Tournaments and four Final Fours with two of them ending in national championships. He brought a dominance to the Big East that felt unmatched with seven regular-season titles in the past nine seasons and nine consecutive years in which the Wildcats finished the season ranked in the AP Top 25.

Fordham head coach and long-time Wright assistant Kyle Neptune will take the Villanova job after a  16-16 season with the Rams in 2021-22. With the transfer portal closing on May 1, Neptune will likely spend the next ten days convincing as many of Villanova’s current players to remain at the program following the coaching change.