Friars coach tucks towel to save jeers

Ed Cooley received some ingame relief to the heat of coaching in the Big East Tournament championship game Saturday night.

The Providence coach ripped the back of his suit pants during the second half of his team’s 76-66 overtime loss to Villanova at Madison Square Garden in New York. He covered the hole by cramming a Gatorade towel into his waist and draping it over his backside. He coached the rest of the game that way.

“When I sat down I felt the great breeze in the crack,” Cooley said. “My pants ripped.”

Villanova Coach Jay Wright said he didn’t know about Cooley’s wardrobe malfunction until Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman told him after the game. He didn’t see it but plans on checking out what all the fuss was about.

“I didn’t even notice it,” said Wright after winning a second consecutive crown. “I didn’t know. I never look at the other coach. I really don’t. Because I love Ed Cooley. So I don’t want to — God knows what he’s doing down there. I don’t want to see anything crazy. I never saw it. I never saw anything. I have no idea. I’ll watch the video, though.

Wright, known for being one of the sharpest-dressed coaches in the country, had a different idea of how he’d deal with a rip in his own pants.

“I don’t know what I would do, man,” he said. “I think I would try — I think I would try to fake like it didn’t happen and hold my coat over it, I think. Thank God I haven’t had that yet.”

AP/FRANK FRANKLIN II Providence Coach Ed Cooley had to lead the second half and overtime of the Friars’ 76-66 loss to Villanova in the Big East Championship game Saturday with a towel tucked into his waist and draped over his backside after ripping his pants.