Nova/Wright | Syracusefan.com

Nova/Wright

But once the Wildcats had success on a national scale, the expectations grew.

"I got sloppy," Wright said. "After we went to the Final Four, it was easy to get guys. So rather than sit down with them and explain, 'Look, I know you want to come, but this is what we do,' I said, 'All right, good, he's a great player? All right, good.'

"And then they got here, we start talking about it and they're like, 'Whoa, no one told me about that.' And they were right. We didn't explain to them what this was. Some of them, when they got here, they got it. Some of them were like, 'Wait, that's not what I signed up for.'"
...
"We had hit rock bottom after that season," he said. "What are we doing? We're not helping these kids. We're not true to our culture. This is on me. This is a decision I made. This is the culture I've created since the Final Four. These are the guys I brought in. I've got to change."
....
When Wright and his staff recruit a high school player, they make sure they lay out what will be asked of the player during his time at Villanova. The idea of family is paramount, and they point to players in the past who made it to the NBA while also being part of a winning culture for three or four years. And not only do they expect total buy-in from the recruit, they also make sure everyone around the recruit is on board, from the parents to the high school coach to the AAU coach.

"He's done a really good job of saying, 'What is my expectation for me and for Villanova and for my staff?' said Jason Donnelly, a former assistant coach under Wright who is now the executive director of athletic development at Villanova. "And my expectation is a certain kind of kid and a certain kind of culture and a certain kind of competitiveness -- and I'm not giving up on that."



Everyone asks why Nova is able to keep most of their players for four years and aren't they besieged by early departures. Well you can see some of it in the above.

I don't think it is realistic, but if there is one guy who I could have lined up to replace JB in five years, it would be Jay Wright.
 
pfister1 said:
But once the Wildcats had success on a national scale, the expectations grew.

"I got sloppy," Wright said. "After we went to the Final Four, it was easy to get guys. So rather than sit down with them and explain, 'Look, I know you want to come, but this is what we do,' I said, 'All right, good, he's a great player? All right, good.'

"And then they got here, we start talking about it and they're like, 'Whoa, no one told me about that.' And they were right. We didn't explain to them what this was. Some of them, when they got here, they got it. Some of them were like, 'Wait, that's not what I signed up for.'"
...
"We had hit rock bottom after that season," he said. "What are we doing? We're not helping these kids. We're not true to our culture. This is on me. This is a decision I made. This is the culture I've created since the Final Four. These are the guys I brought in. I've got to change."
...
When Wright and his staff recruit a high school player, they make sure they lay out what will be asked of the player during his time at Villanova. The idea of family is paramount, and they point to players in the past who made it to the NBA while also being part of a winning culture for three or four years. And not only do they expect total buy-in from the recruit, they also make sure everyone around the recruit is on board, from the parents to the high school coach to the AAU coach.

"He's done a really good job of saying, 'What is my expectation for me and for Villanova and for my staff?' said Jason Donnelly, a former assistant coach under Wright who is now the executive director of athletic development at Villanova. "And my expectation is a certain kind of kid and a certain kind of culture and a certain kind of competitiveness -- and I'm not giving up on that."



Everyone asks why Nova is able to keep most of their players for four years and aren't they besieged by early departures. Well you can see some of it in the above.

 I don't think it is realistic, but if there is one guy who I could have lined up to replace JB in five years, it would be Jay Wright.
Expand...
This is not directed at you at all, but, I just wanted to use your note at the bottom to state to those crazy posters, that there is zero chance of Jay Wright being our coach. Other posters have mentioned him, and made it seem like all we have to do is ask and he is ours. He wins 30+ a year, is in national title hunt yearly, and lives in his hometown. He is also recruiting players we want and getting them at Nova. Plus he makes more money than JB. What has made anyone believe he would ever leave Nova for cuse? Bothers me when people are unrealistic. It's not happening despite how perfect a candidate he is.
 
jr4750 said:
This is not directed at you at all, but, I just wanted to use your note at the bottom to state to those crazy posters, that there is zero chance of Jay Wright being our coach. Other posters have mentioned him, and made it seem like all we have to do is ask and he is ours. He wins 30+ a year, is in national title hunt yearly, and lives in his hometown. He is also recruiting players we want and getting them at Nova. Plus he makes more money than JB. What has made anyone believe he would ever leave Nova for cuse? Bothers me when people are unrealistic. It's not happening despite how perfect a candidate he is.
Expand...

Yes, we should be more realistic- like K or Izzo
 
tbonezone said:
jay wright spent 5 years at hofstra before taking the villanova job. you can find great young head coaches at smaller programs if you do your research. villanova struck gold.
Expand...

He was also an assistant at Villanova from 87-92 before Hofstra
 
He's on a good run but take away the NC year and they rarely get out of 2nd round.
 
tbonezone said:
jay wright spent 5 years at hofstra before taking the villanova job. you can find great young head coaches at smaller programs if you do your research. villanova struck gold.
Expand...

Indeed. Brad Stevens was virtually a complete unknown and put Butler on the map.
 
Madbiker said:
Did Nova thank SU, Ville, ND for leaving so they could dominate the Big East and northeast basketball? Because they should.
Expand...
Ed Zackly.
And you can add The Hall, PC, and some others to that list- which is why the Einsteins who suggested we start measuring ourselves to Providence College, need to get a clue! Programs that could never quite break thru the behemoth of the OBE, suddenly had room to breathe. Nova, to their credit, was in perfect position to take advantage, and they did so. Congrats.
 
jr4750 said:
This is not directed at you at all, but, I just wanted to use your note at the bottom to state to those crazy posters, that there is zero chance of Jay Wright being our coach. Other posters have mentioned him, and made it seem like all we have to do is ask and he is ours. He wins 30+ a year, is in national title hunt yearly, and lives in his hometown. He is also recruiting players we want and getting them at Nova. Plus he makes more money than JB. What has made anyone believe he would ever leave Nova for cuse? Bothers me when people are unrealistic. It's not happening despite how perfect a candidate he is.
Expand...

We should keep a close eye on his assistants / past assistants as they are likely to run a program like their mentor. These are the guys we might be able to land. This is the closest we will come to getting Jay Wright.
 
Newhouser said:
He's on a good run but take away the NC year and they rarely get out of 2nd round.
Expand...

JB had a very long stretch of not getting past the second round earlier in his career. Glad people didn’t write him off.
 
DoctorBombay said:
Ed Zackly.
And you can add The Hall, PC, and some others to that list- which is why the Einsteins who suggested we start measuring ourselves to Providence College, need to get a clue! Programs that could never quite break thru the behemoth of the OBE, suddenly had room to breathe. Nova, to their credit, was in perfect position to take advantage, and they did so. Congrats.
Expand...
Nova was beating the big boys in the BE regularly.
 
AZOrange said:
Nova was beating the big boys in the BE regularly.
Expand...
Nova was always upper tier OBE, but they had a number of down periods. Overall record was spotty in terms of conference championships, etc. Once the power hitters left they were in perfect position to fill the vacuum created, literally unopposed.
They've dominated ever since.
 
jr4750 said:
This is not directed at you at all, but, I just wanted to use your note at the bottom to state to those crazy posters, that there is zero chance of Jay Wright being our coach. Other posters have mentioned him, and made it seem like all we have to do is ask and he is ours. He wins 30+ a year, is in national title hunt yearly, and lives in his hometown. He is also recruiting players we want and getting them at Nova. Plus he makes more money than JB. What has made anyone believe he would ever leave Nova for cuse? Bothers me when people are unrealistic. It's not happening despite how perfect a candidate he is.
Expand...

I think it's how genuine and non-coach speak he always sounds when talking about us (same reason most people like him). I live in Philly & once heard him on a popular non-sports AM show answer "Carrier Dome" when asked an open ended ? about the coolest atmosphere he's seen.

Sometimes I wonder why anyone competitive would be content with their livelyhood being about 11th on the totem pole of local teams people care about, which Nova roughly is in Philly.
But ya, the fact that he's been there so long is evidence he doesn't care about that. Different strokes.

I mean no sane person is going to wager even $ with you that he's leaving there to go to any one place so it's not a bold take to say he's not coming here.
But it's way too defeatist to liken it to say NC St wanting Sean Miller or something a couple years ago. Our programs are a lot more alike than Marquette/Va Tech were 3yrs ago or FSU/Texas A&M is in football, for instance. Much much stranger things have happened.

I also agree w/ whoever said there are a ton of really good coaches in obscure places so whatever; it's not something I dream about.
 
AZOrange said:
Nova was beating the big boys in the BE regularly.
Expand...
Nova wasn't just beating they were one of the big boys in the BE for almost the last decade or so... GMAC's senior day game was against Nova and they kicked our butts. You're not giving them enough credit.

Once the rest of the big boys left the BE they were the lone big fish left and have taken advantage of it.
 
OrangeFoo said:
Nova wasn't just beating they were one of the big boys in the BE for almost the last decade or so... GMAC's senior day game was against Nova and they kicked our butts. You're not giving them enough credit.

Once the rest of the big boys left the BE they were the lone big fish left and have taken advantage of it.
Expand...

Wright won 25 games 3 times in 12 years before we left the conference in 2013. We won 25 games 7 times in that same period. He’s now about to win 25 games his fifth season in a row. You can’t help but wonder how much conference realignment helped Nova since 2013.
 
Last edited:
jr4750 said:
This is not directed at you at all, but, I just wanted to use your note at the bottom to state to those crazy posters, that there is zero chance of Jay Wright being our coach. Other posters have mentioned him, and made it seem like all we have to do is ask and he is ours. He wins 30+ a year, is in national title hunt yearly, and lives in his hometown. He is also recruiting players we want and getting them at Nova. Plus he makes more money than JB. What has made anyone believe he would ever leave Nova for cuse? Bothers me when people are unrealistic. It's not happening despite how perfect a candidate he is.
Expand...
He turned down a Kentucky overture. He ain’t goin nowhere. Except maybe the NBA.
 
OrangeFoo said:
Nova wasn't just beating they were one of the big boys in the BE for almost the last decade or so... GMAC's senior day game was against Nova and they kicked our butts. You're not giving them enough credit.

Once the rest of the big boys left the BE they were the lone big fish left and have taken advantage of it.
Expand...
This^^^
The lower tier OBE teams moved up a little, but Nova got the most benefit from realignment.
No more Cuse, UConn, LVille, and WVU to contend with, and a weakened GTown after the Otto Porter season was finished.
 
Cusefan0307 said:
Wright won 25 games 3 times in 12 years before we left the conference in 2013. We won 25 games 7 times in that same period. He’s now about to win 25 games his fifth season in a row. You can’t help but wonder how much conference realignment helped Nova since 2013.
Expand...
Nothing like relying on facts.:)

Nova was very good in the Foye/Ray/Lowry years, but then they fell back into the pack by 2011 (the Wayns/Corey/Corey teams).
 
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