Jay Wright admits he could be lured back to coaching by NBA job

One destination’s retired coach is another’s coaching candidate.

That’s the way things work in sports when coaches retire while there’s still gas in the tank, and it’s going to be the case with Jay Wright for at least the next several years should he choose to remain on the sidelines.

Wright, who stunned the sports world with a sudden retirement from Villanova just weeks after a Final Four berth, admitted Tuesday morning in an interview with “Keyshawn, JWill & Max” on ESPN Radio that he’d previously considered jumping to the NBA, and that anything is possible down the line.

“Not right now. That was something I always thought about,” Wright said, when asked if he’s thought about coaching in the NBA. “My experience with the Olympics kind of scratched that itch. … I kind of feel like I did it a little bit. And I loved coaching those guys.”

Wright was an assistant coach under Gregg Popovich on the U.S. gold medal team in the 2020 Olympics (which actually occurred in 2021) in Tokyo.

“Right now I definitely need a break,” Wright told the radio program. “Right now I’m looking forward to this [special assistant] position at Villanova. But honestly, down the road, I’d be lying — I don’t know what I’m going to feel like.”

Wright, 60, is stepping into a role assisting Villanova’s president. His teams won national titles in 2016 and 2018, and also reached the Final Four in 2009 and 2022.

He stepped aside from his coaching role at this time because he did not feel he could give it his all.

“I know I made the right decision, because I don’t think going into next year I’d be able to do the things I need to do to keep this program at a high level,” Wright said. “But I’m going to take this year and really throw myself into this position at Villanova, and then see what’s out there. I just didn’t want to be the coach at Villanova and not be 100 percent in.”