Sad day moves Wright to Big 5 forefont
Sad day thrusts Wright to Big 5 fraternity’s forefront
HARTFORD, CONN. » Villanova coach Jay Wright boarded the team’s charter for Hartford Tuesday evening with a heavy heart. A few hours earlier word came down that his good friend and Big 5 rival, Phil Martelli, was fired after 34 years at Saint Joseph’s, the last 24 as the head coach.
The news did not get any better hours later as Fran Dunphy’s 30-year coaching career at Penn and Temple came to a close, the Owls falling to Belmont, 81-70, in the First Four of the NCAA tournament in Dayton.
The three had just been together, albeit briefly, one day earlier at the annual Coaches vs. Cancer breakfast at the Palestra. Dunphy was the first coach to speak and had to leave to catch a flight to Dayton.
Just like that the two men who were considered the deans of Big 5 basketball coaches were out in what truly was a dark day for the city series. Dunphy’s departure was part of a year-long farewell tour that began when it was announced last spring that this would be his last season as the head coach at Temple. The Martelli firing was a shocker.
“I was thinking about that last night,” Wright said Wednesday as the Wildcats (25-9) prepared for Thursday’s NCAA tournament opener against Saint Mary’s (22-11) at the XL Center (7:20 p.m.). “I was in my hotel room by myself watching Dunph’s last game. They had a camera shot of him walking into the locker room after the game. It was emotional. I was doing a radio show (earlier in the day), I actually was on Coach K’s radio show and I was on hold, And the producer said Mike wants to know if it’s OK to ask you about Phil. I was like, ‘What?’ He said it just came across that they parted ways and I got emotional.”
No coach likes to see another coach lose his or her job, even a rival. But here in Philly, with the Big 5, it’s different. The Big 5 isn’t some loosely connected group WRIGHT » PAGE 5