Wright has mixed emotions about playing old friends
Jay Wright isn’t real big on playing his former assistant coaches. Actually, the Villanova coach hates it, which is why he has only done it six times in his first 17 years on the Main Line.
Wright went against former assistant Joe Jones three times, twice when Jones was at Columbia and once at Boston University. Wright took on Navy twice when Billy Lange, now a 76ers assistant, was the head coach of the Middies and faced Pat Chambers once at Boston University before he became the head coach at Penn State.
So to say Wright isn’t thrilled with Saturday’s game against Quinnipiac at the Wells Fargo Center (8 p.m., FS2) would be an understatement.
Former Wildcat and ex-Villanova assistant coach Baker Dunleavy is in his second year as the head coach of the Bobcats. His associate head coach is Tom Pecora, who was Wright’s right-hand man at Hofstra before Wright left to take the job at Villanova. Pecora succeeded Wright as the coach of the Pride and then went to Fordham, where he signed and coached Eric Paschall for a year.
Then there is Ryan Harkins, the director of basketball operations. He cut his coaching teeth as a graduate assistant and video coordinator for the Wildcats. The only saving grace is that it is Villanova’s basketball alumni night.
“I do not like playing against our assistant coaches,” Wright said. “… This is not comfortable. But I do look forward to having our basketball alums back with us, seeing their families, and sensing the pride they have in this program. It’s important that all those guys stay connected and that they know they are still a big part of this program.”
The 36-year-old Dunleavy played for Wright from 2003-2006 and then left a job on Wall Street to return to his alma mater as director of basketball operations in 2010. He rose through the ranks and became Wright’s associate head coach in 2013 and helped guide the Wildcats to the national title in 2016. He took over Quinnipiac last season and went 12-21 in his first year.
“It’s a really weird, almost uncomfortable feeling leading up to it,” Dunleavy said about the matchup. “I was sitting in my office reading a scouting report and seeing the faces and names that I’ve coached and recruited, knowing that he’s going to be coaching those guys. It’s odd. Once the ball tips it will be 40 minutes of us trying to grind our way through and play the best we can. But everything leading up to it certainly has a very unique feel that I haven’t been through before.”
Dunleavy said the game came about shortly after he was hired by Quinnipiac. Villanova had an opening in the early part of its schedule and Dunleavy was looking for a game to raise Quinnipiac’s profile and help with its recruiting efforts. He did not know the Wildcats would go on to win a second national title in two years, but he sees that as a plus, too. It’s a chance for his team to play the defending national champions in an NBA arena on national television.
It’s not so much about me and, ‘Hey I want to go back and play my old school,” Dunleavy said. “That’s a great feeling, but honestly it does more for us in terms of getting exposure than it does giving me a good feeling. I’d prefer to watch those guys on TV and root like heck for them.”