Jay Wright admits he may be lured by NBA jobs later

The retired coach of one destination is the coach candidate of another.

That’s the way things work in sports when coaches retire while there’s still gas in the tank, and that will be the case for Jay Wright for at least the next few years should he choose to stay on the sidelines.

Wright, who stunned the sports world with his sudden retirement from Villanova just weeks after a Final Four spot, admitted in an interview with “Keyshawn, JWill & Max” on ESPN radio on Tuesday morning that he had previously considered going into the to change NBA that everything is possible across the board.

“Not now. That’s always been on my mind,” Wright said when asked if he was considering coaching in the NBA. “My experience with the Olympics kind of scratched that itch. … I feel like I’ve got it.” done a bit. And I loved coaching those guys.”

Wright was an assistant coach under Gregg Popovich on the US gold medal team at the 2020 Olympics (which actually took place in 2021) in Tokyo.

“Right now I definitely need a break,” Wright told the radio show. “At the moment I’m looking forward to it [special assistant] Position at Villanova. But honestly I’d lie later – I don’t know how I’m going to feel.”

Wright, 60, is stepping into a role supporting Villanova’s president. His teams won national titles in 2016 and 2018 and also reached the Final Four in 2009 and 2022.

He resigned from his coaching role at this point because he felt he couldn’t give it his all.

“I know I made the right decision because I don’t think I’ll be able to do the things I need to do to keep this program at a high level next year,” he said Wright. “But I’m going to take this year and really throw myself into that position at Villanova and then see what’s out there. I just didn’t want to be a coach at Villanova and not be there 100 percent.”