Jay Wright, who has maintained all along he was done coaching, won’t be the next Knicks coach
The former Villanova coach reportedly met with the Knicks' president and informed him that he plans to remain retired.
Perhaps now people will believe what Jay Wright has been saying all along, because if he wasn’t going to take this job, there probably isn’t one out there that will lure him out of retirement.
Wright, according to his CBS Sports television colleague Seth Davis, talked with New York Knicks president and friend Leon Rose about the team’s head coaching job and informed Rose that he plans to remain retired.
According to the New York Post, “regular conversations led to Rose’s understanding that Wright isn’t interested in returning to the sideline.”
The former Villanova coach was an obvious name to watch when the Knicks made the unexpected move of firing coach Tom Thibodeau after he led New York to its first conference finals appearance since 2000. The ‘Nova Knicks (Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart) reuniting with their former coach would have made for a good story. But Wright has maintained, since he surprised many with his retirement following Villanova’s 2022 Final Four run, that he was done with coaching.
“I do know, in my mind, I do not think I’ll coach again,” Wright told The Inquirer in February. “I’m so sure about it.”
» READ MORE: Jay Wright as coach of the ’Nova Knicks? Makes sense for everyone except Wright.
Wright, 63, remains a special assistant to the Villanova president and has his TV gig with CBS. He was also in the building last week when Villanova went through its first offseason team workouts under new coach Kevin Willard, whose transition to Villanova will likely be aided by Wright.
Wright’s name was floated last year when the Los Angeles Lakers had an opening, and he again had to make public statements about not being interested in coaching. One year later, perhaps the point has gotten across.