Wright earns another coaching award from peers

Stu Jackson, the senior associate commissioner for men’s basketball in the Big East Conference, feigned a yawn when he announced Villanova’s Jay Wright as the conference Coach of the Year Wednesday in New York.

Jackson was having fun, but Wright being named as the top coach in the conference has become an annual rite of March. This is the sixth time Wright has won the award, the most in conference history. Four have come in the last six years. He was chosen Coach of the Year in a vote of the league coaches in 2006, 2009, 2014, 2015 and shared the award with Seton Hall’s Kevin Willard in 2016. It’s the seventh time a coach from Villanova received the honor. The late Rollie Massimino won the award in 1982.

“I was surprised,” Wright said by phone from New York. “At the press conference I talked about Wojo (Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski). I even said I voted for Wojo. I felt bad I couldn’t vote for Kevin (Willard of Seton Hall) because I thought he did a great job, too.”

Wright guided the Wildcats (229, 13-5) to their fifth regular-season title in the last six years despite losing four players from last year’s national championship team to the NBA Draft along with top assistant Ashley Howard to La Salle.

“I really think it speaks of the job that Kyle (Neptune) and George (Halcovage) and Mike (Nardi) and Dwayne (Anderson) did,” said Wright, referring to the members of his coaching staff. “They’re young guys. Dwayne is in his first year and they’re all in their first year in their positions with a young team. They really did a great job.” Wright was humbled by the honor. “It always means a lot because your fellow coaches vote for you,” Wright said. “We all have great respect for each other and we genuinely like each other. We want to beat each other bad, but it means a lot that they would think to vote for me and that’s what really makes it special.”