’Nova coaching staff changes complete

When Baker Dunleavy left in March to become the head coach at Quinnipiac, it created an opening on Jay Wright’s coaching staff at Villanova.

It was widely assumed Wright would stay in house to fill that void and he did.

Wright announced Thursday that George Halcovcage has been promoted from director of basketball operations to assistant coach, where he joins Ashley Howard and Kyle Neptune in that capacity. Halcovage started at Villanova as a graduate assistant in 2008.

“George is a longtime member of our staff who has been ready for this position for a long time,” Wright said in a statement released by the school. “We are excited about him taking the next step in his career at Villanova.”

Former guard Mike Nardi has been promoted from video coordinator to director of basketball 0perations. Nardi played for Wright from 2003-07 and was the director of program development during the team’s national championship run in 2015-16.

“It’s great to have a player of Mike’s caliber working his way up on our staff,” Wright said. “He is a talented coach with a bright future in our business.”

Mike Clark will serve as the team’s video coordinator. He spent the last two years as a graduate manager for the Wildcats and was a student manager before that.

“Mike has been in our program for six years and continues to impress everyone on our staff,” Wright said. “Mike is extremely creative in his field of branding, marketing and video and we have already benefitted from his skill in those areas.”