Jay Wright (basketball)

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Jay Wright

Wright in 2023
Biographical details
Born	(1961-12-24) December 24, 1961 (age 63) Churchville, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Alma mater	Bucknell
Playing career
1979–1983	Bucknell
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1984–1986	Rochester (assistant)
1986–1987	Drexel (assistant)
1987–1992	Villanova (assistant)
1992–1994	UNLV (assistant)
1994–2001	Hofstra
2001–2022	Villanova
Head coaching record
Overall	642–282 (.695)
Tournaments	34–16 (NCAA Division I) 4–4 (NIT)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
2 NCAA Division I Tournament (2016, 2018) 4 NCAA Final Four (2009, 2016, 2018, 2022) 2 America East regular season (2000, 2001) 2 America East tournament (2000, 2001) 8 Big East regular season (2006, 2014–2017, 2019–2021) 5 Big East tournament (2015, 2017–2019, 2022)
Awards
2× Naismith College Coach of the Year (2006, 2016) NABC Coach of the Year (2006) John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award (2018) AP Coach of the Decade (2010s) 2× America East Coach of the Year (2000, 2001) 6× Big East Coach of the Year (2006, 2009, 2014–2016, 2019)
Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2021 (profile)
Medal record Olympic Games Assistant coach for the  United States 2020 Tokyo Team

Jerold Taylor "Jay" Wright Jr. (born December 24, 1961) is an American former college basketball coach. He served as the head coach of Villanova University from 2001 until 2022. Wright led the Villanova Wildcats to six Big East Conference championships and 16 NCAA tournament appearances in 21 seasons as head coach. Under Wright, Villanova reached four Final Fours (2009, 2016, 2018, 2022) and won two national championships in 2016 and 2018.

Beginning as a four-year player at Bucknell University, he quickly moved to coaching as an assistant at the University of Rochester and then Drexel University. In 1987, Wright returned to the institution he grew up rooting for as an assistant at Villanova under Hall of Fame coach Rollie Massimino.^[1] He coached at Villanova for five years, before following Massimino for a stint as an assistant at UNLV.

Wright started his head coaching at Hofstra University (1994–2001), leading the program to NCAA tournament appearances in both 2000 and 2001. Wright was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a member of the 2021 class.^[2][3]