Jay Wright doesn’t miss coaching, not for one second.
He told Jeff Goodman of The Messenger that he enjoys his part-time analyst job with CBS Sports so much that he doesn’t see himself taking responsibility for an entire program or team again. The 62-year-old former head coach of Villanova men’s basketball has no plans to do so.
“I didn’t know I wasn’t going to miss it,” Wright told The Messenger. “I had no idea how I was going to handle it. But I just felt like it was the right time for Villanova and me. I could have hung in and done it for a couple of years at a lesser commitment level, but I couldn’t in my heart do that, and it wasn’t right for Villanova. But I didn’t know what it was going to be like. I just knew it was the right time.”
This isn’t exactly a new phenomenon from Wright; he’s made these comments previously. But those came prior to the 2023 NCAA Tournament, as the CBS Sports college basketball analyst worked as a studio analyst through the Final Four.
What particularly stood out from Wright’s conversation with Goodman is the two-time national championship-winning head coach (2016, ’18) didn’t realize how much coaching got in the way of his enjoyment of the other aspects of basketball. This realization first dawned on Wright during last year’s NCAA Tournament. He admitted that he had never enjoyed a tournament as much as he did from the CBS Sports studios — and this coming from a coach who has won two titles in the last decade.
“Doing the NCAA tournament last year in the studio was so much fun. I never enjoyed the tournament so much,” he said. “When you’re in it, you’re concentrating. And when you lose, you’re miserable. You hate the tournament. You don’t want to watch it anymore. You just want it to be over so you can start the next season.”
Wright’s experience demonstrates that a fulfilling life after coaching can exist. His enjoyment of analysis shows there’s still plenty to learn and love about the game beyond the pressure cooker of head coaching. Now, from the analyst’s desk, he watches with fresh eyes, his competitive fire replaced by a deep appreciation for the artistry unfolding on the court.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.