New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Hurley aims to emulate Wright’s success
Choking back tears during a press conference Friday morning, Villanova men’s basketball coach Jay Wright officially left the bench.
After 38 years, the past 21 spent turning the Wildcats into the class of the Big East and a two-time national champion, Wright, 60, realized he wasn’t all-in anymore. He had become slightly disengaged, a little worn out.
“Not at the top of my game,” is the way he put it, despite winning another conference championship and reaching another Final Four this past season. “We always tell our players, you’re either 100 percent in, or you’re against us. …
We could never ask the players to give 100 percent if I’m giving 70 percent. So I just knew it was the right time.”
To run an elite Division I basketball program is to embrace insanity, really, particularly in the increasingly complicated era of the transfer portal and the name, image and likeness movement. Coaching paychecks are massive, of course, but the pressure and pace of the ever-evolving job requires a sacrifice-all-else approach.
That’s what UConn coach Dan Hurley was discussing Thursday evening as he left work. With another recruit having been added to the program earlier in the day and the season having ended over a month ago, he was asked if he was still going 100 miles-perhour every day.
“105,” Hurley said. “You have to understand what it is. It’s a 365day-a-year job. Every day when you’re driving to the facility, you’ve got to expect to deal with myriad issues both with your staff and with your players. As long as you have that expectation going in, I think you’re all right.
“But you can’t ever get away because you can plan a three-day vacation and usually your phone starts ringing upon landing or the next morning with a crisis in recruiting or a current player or a