I Bleed Blue and White

Today, Jay Wright dished out some information on the process he went through with the Philadelphia 76ers for their head coaching position, which was recently filled by Eddie Jordan. Surprisingly, he may have been closer to accepting this job than some really thought. Wright wouldn’t interview with anyone else except the 76ers and the process certainly made him consider taking the job. In the end, though,

I didn’t need anything from Villanova. I just needed to say to (Nicastro), if I did this, my next concern would be our program. The program’s in good shape. At some time you’re going to have to leave Villanova. With everything in place, coming off a Final Four, it’s not the time. We have so much we want to do here and we hope to be here a long, long time.

A big factor of Wright’s success in his years at Villanova has been Scottie Reynolds.  He’s had the opportunity to coach Reynolds for 3 years, but will he have the chance to coach him as a senior?  Jay says Scottie is, 

…leaning toward coming back.  I think his decision is, ‘Do I want to go into the NBA this year maybe as a second-round pick with the confidence I’ll make it, or do I want to wait and get my college degree and try and be a first-round pick next year?’

One cannot underestimate how much Wright has done for this program.  I’m not going to run through all of the accolades, but there is excitement year round with this program, which is hard to accomplish in college basketball.  At some point, I do see Jay going to the NBA, but hopefully, not in the near future. 

Not that there was much doubt in any of our minds, but Jay Wright is not interested in the Philadelphia 76ers job. One day I do believe that Jay Wright will leave for the NBA, but that time hasn’t come, and won’t come for a while.

Obviously, new news is hard to come by these days, since the offseason is in full swing.  With that said, there is some relatively important news coming out of the Big East.  There were recent reports that Louisville’s Rick Pitino expressed interest in the Sacramento Kings head coaching vacancy.  Whether he did or not is something I can’t be sure of, but today, Pitino told a Lousville spokesperson that he currently has no interest in the Sacramento Kings job or any NBA job for that matter. 

It’s always hard to judge the validity of some of these rumors, like the one of Pitino expressing interest in the Kings job.  He certainly may have, considering he’s been a head coach in the NBA before.  All in all, though, the Louisville job is one of the most coveted in sports, and I think Pitino recognizes that.  With his team falling one game short of the Final 4 this year, I think there will be extra motivation for him to prove he can take another team that deep in the tournament.  Just like when there were reports that Jim Calhoun might be retiring but he stayed, I like that Pitino is staying.  He is a huge name in sports and adds to the overall persona of the Big East.