Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Jay Wright | Former Villanova Basketball Coach | 06-17-26

Transcript

Jay Wright | Former Villanova Basketball Coach | 06-17-26 · Sid & Friends In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: If you appreciate Jalen Brunson and all those Villanova kids
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: what they accomplished with the knickerbockers between Brunson, Bridges and
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Heart and even de Vincenzo a couple of years ago,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: then you got it. Think Jay Wright. Now, Jay Wright,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: of course was their coach in college at Villanova. He
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: had a great run at Hofstra before that, and I
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: got to know Jay very well. My very first ever
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: TV appearance, very first ever included Jay Wright. He was
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: at Hobsterra at the time, and a new Jersey next
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: on named Keith van Horn. That was my first TV appearance.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: It was right Rosenberg and van Horn, and Jay went
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: on to be came one of the all time greats.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: He is in the Basketball Hall of Fame, two championships,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: four final fours, and most importantly a handsome bastard. He
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: really is a good looking guy. Here he is live
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: from somewhere in Pennsylvania today, my old buddy, Jay Wright.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Good morning, Jay, How.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: Are you sit? How are you buddy? Great to hear you?
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Great to hear you too? Are you still as handsome
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: as you were back down? I hear you are. I
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: hear You're still I don't know, man, he'll know you
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: at all fades. Man, I know it does. And I
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: hear you look great and I know you're doing great.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: And man, Jay, it must have been something for you
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: to watch all those guys have all that success. And
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: I'm happy that to out there run that they kept
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: mentioning you happy about that. And I know all those
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: players thank you because they won with you when you
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: had the money to win at the next level. So
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: when you talk about people being really happy, the next one,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Jay Wright, maybe at the very top of that list.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: I was. Man, I'll tell you what it was. It
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: was a lot of fun. It was like being a
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: proud papa. I just I didn't go to I didn't
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: go to any games purposely because I just like sitting
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: back just my wife and I enjoy every part of it,
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: the pregame, the warps, all the interviews, post game everything.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: I enjoyed watching them handle everything. I enjoyed watching the
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Knicks fans. I always like to hear I like to
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: hear you say Nickabocker's like a like a true New
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: Yorker because if I remember the seventy and seventy three teams,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: I was a kid, but I was a Sixers fan,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: and I remember Will Chamberlain, lewel Cinder, Jerry West, all
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: those guys are around like they were legendary players, kind
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: of like Jordan and Kobe and the Knicks. Kind of
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: really good players like Willis Reid and Walt Frasier and
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Bill Bradley, but they weren't kind of thought of at
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: that level. But they were a great team. And that's
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: what this team reminds me of.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: You're right, great team, amazing chemistry. And I do call
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: him the Nicko Bockers. In fact, I still refer the
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Mets as the Metropolitans. I like him. I like that.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: So I guess the big question is throughout the run,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: or maybe even right after, the day after or the
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: night of, did you hear from any of those players
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: that won a championship with you?
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we would text. Like I said, I purposely didn't
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: go to any games because one of the things that
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: we would always talk about in texting was like trying
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: to eliminate all the hype, you know, after a big
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: win or especially during the playoffs when they were when
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: they would on that run of like fourteen games in
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: a row or whatever, that was that crazy number without
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: a loss before they lost in Game three of the finals,
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: we were talking about just getting to the next game
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: and that everybody we would text about the fact that
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: everybody's hyping up. You're close to winning it, you're close
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: to closing out the series. But all that all you
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: can handle is just the next game and your mindset
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: going into the next game, And so we would text
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: about that all the time. As Fanny McHale sent me
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: a picture after the championship game from after Game five
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: from on the court with his college teammates who played
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: with him, who were down there at the game, and
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: it was it was awesome. They're great guys, they're close,
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: they're close with all their college classmates and teammates. They're
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: just regular guys. And it's gonna be hard to do
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: that in New York. Now, when you bright New York,
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: it's like nowhere else in the world. Yes, so it's
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: gonna be a challenge for them going forward.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: But that's the part that I think makes me most happy.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: This is Jay Rdy coach those guys to a twenty
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: sixteen college championship. That was a great rue. Chris Jenkins
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: hits the big three against Caroline you blew out Oklahoma
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: along the way. I remember all of it. Twenty eighteen
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: they went again. But the beauty about those guys is
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: forgetting about the fact that now Jalen Brunson is on
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: most Nick Banns list as the third greatest Nick ever.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: That's a big deal, Jay Wright, moving ahead of Patrick Ewing,
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: just behind Clayton Well some of them. Clyde willis at
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: number one. Forget about that. You look at Brunson, you
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: look at Michel Bridges, you look at Josh Hart, and
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: they're good young men. And that goes back to you.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: I know you're a humble guide, Jay, but you coach
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: them when they want a championship. A very big deal.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: Two of them at Villanova. I believe whatever you did
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: with those young men at Villanova prepared them to be champions,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: but even better men at the next level. So congratulations
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: to you.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Shid. It really starts with their parents, man,
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: that all three of them and their parents are friendly,
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: they're at the games. All three of them have parents
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: that were the kind of people that Number one have
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: great faith. Number two were of the mindset when they struggled.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: And I remember in high school when I was recruiting
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: them in college and even to this day, they've they've
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: kind of developed their own way of handling this. But
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: when during difficult times, they would, you know, say to
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: them and listen to your coach. You know, where's your
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: coach say? Which sounds simple, but it's so rare with
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: with talented athletes. And they've gotten to the point in
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: their lives now as grown men where they they handle
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: that themselves. They handle they handle success with humility, they
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: handle failure with responsibility and and and a way to learn.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: And I think that the next great challenge for them,
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: which will hopefully enable the Knicks to remain as a
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: championship level team, is all of this adulation when when
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: they I mean, this parade is going to be incredible tomorrow. Uh.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: I lived in New York where the Yankees wanted. I
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: just can't imagine what this is going to be like. Yeah,
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: but to handle all this and then get past it
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: in the offseason, then continue to get better because now
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: everybody's coming after the Knicks, So now you've got to
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: get yourself to another level and still remain humble.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: That's not going to be easy. You're right, and Jay
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: right again here the amazing coach who coached all these knicks,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: including Dante, who was a great nick too when he
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: was part of that twenty eighteen team with Bridges and
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: brunching that won a championship in Villanova. You know, the
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: beautiful relationship between Jalen and his father, you know, on
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: a much lower level, I guess you know, my son
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: plays in this summer basketball league in Bell Harber j
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: It's great, Rockaway. These are really good. Yeah, it's great,
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: and I'm his coach. So we started our new season
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: last night. I got Gabriel, my son coming off the bench,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: my first kid coming off the bench, and we won
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: by a dozen. But I'm walking home. This is like
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: nine to thirty last night, Jay and my son, who's
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: just a beautiful child, seventeen now, he looked at me
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: and he said, Daddy, I love these nights and I
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: love the fact that you coach me and that we
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: spend this time together. That was unprovoked. I didn't say, hey, Gabe,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: what do you think. That was unprovoked. And that was
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: probably a very similar conversation between me and Gabriel last
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: night that Jalen and Rick had were on a much
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: bigger scale. They won the NBA Championship right.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: Now, You're exactly right, and that that is what UH
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: coaching and parenting is all about. Is that is that
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: moment right there that you that you just articulated. It's
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: just those moments there are worth everything for you. And
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: to know that you've instilled that in your son and
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: he's probably going to do the same thing one day.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: And that's exactly what Rick, and even though it's on
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: another level, it is exactly what Rick and Jalen share,
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: And I know what Rick takes great pride in. H
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: It's funny Rick and I text and we just had
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: a similar text and it just ended with Rick saying,
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: same old Jalen, meaning just he's still a regular kid.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: You know, he's still a regular guy. He's not being
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: affected by it. And I know that's what Rick takes
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: the most pride in, and that Rick could be that
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: kind of father. I mean, Jalen could be that kind
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: of father one day too.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, one hundred percent. Now, I think I heard you
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: say with my dear friend Joe BANNINGO who used to
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: be my midday partner when you were at Hopstow. I
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: get to that tea and he's on this show now
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: once a week with me, even though he's still at
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: the fan. They let him come on here because he's
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: so good. He loves politics too. But I think he
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: said to me that you said, to be fair, that
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: you know you thought Jalen was a good ballplayer at Villanova,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: certainly good in Dallas, but you never really thought he'd
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: be this good. I don't want to put words in
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: your mouth, but did you say that with Joan?
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah? I did not. I thought he was in a
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: great situation in Dallas where uh Luga dar Chich was
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: kind of the the go to guy, but Jalen was
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: the leader of the team and the point guard and
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: the and the brains of the operation, and he could
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: control everything. And when Luca got it go and he
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: got him the ball in the right spots, and when
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: Luca was injured or there, or the defense was overplaying Luca,
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Jalen could go take over. I thought that was great
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: for him. And I remember when he and I talked
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: about when he's making his decision to come to the
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: next he just said he because I want I want
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: to lead the team, and I didn't want to. I
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: didn't want to say to them like my man, you
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: are leading the team, and this you you. But I
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: knew what he was saying. I knew he was saying,
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: I want to be the go to guy and lead
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: the team. And and and I didn't say anything that
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: you said, Hey, trust yourself. And because when you make
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: a move like that, everybody can tell you what to do.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: But after they tell you what to do, they go
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: live their own lives. You're the one that has to
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: go live it every day.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: And let me remind you that a lot of the
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: people that love Jalen now that call him the greatest,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: stephen A Smith and Dan Patrick and a lot of
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: these smart guys, right, they all said when he signed
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: with the Knicks, what a mistake. He can't be that guy.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: He can't be the guy that Jalen said to you,
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: I want to be that guy. And now he's proven
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: a lot of those guys said that, you know that, Jay.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: Definitely, You're absolutely right, And I honestly I didn't if
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: someone would ask me, can you see him getting forty
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: five in a closeout game on the road when a
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: great defensive team is set completely to stop him. No way,
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: I just didn't. That's one of the things that's amazing
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: is to understand at a basketball level, when you have
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: the best athletes in the world, which the Spurs have
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: some of the best athletes in the world, and a
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: great coaching staff and a defense committed to stopping you
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: in a huge game on the road, and you can
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: get forty five against that, That's just that's still uncomprehensible
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: to me. I still struggle believing that he just did that.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: That was incredible. It's true.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: This is Jay Wright, who spent twenty one years from
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: two thousand and one to twenty twenty two at Villanova,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: won two championships, four final fours basketball, the Hall of
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Fame reback in twenty twenty one Coach of the Year.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: It's exhausting reading all your good stuff here, Jay, two
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: thousand and six, twenty sixteen. But I be remissed. Before
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: I let you go, I've got the Nassau County executive
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Bruce Blakeman, he's running for governor against Hochel. He's coming
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: on this show in about forty minutes. And a guy
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: I know, you know, the former great Congressman Peter King,
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: He's also coming on today. So yeah, so Nassau County
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: he represented in big time, and there you were between
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety four and two thousand and one putting the
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: Hastra men's basketball team on the map. You really did that, Yes,
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: Pete Claxton, right, Wasn't Speedy a guy?
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah? Speed, Speedy started at all and we're also proud
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: of Speedy and you know leading Hofter this year to
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: the n Stay Tournament, which was the first time that
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: Hofter has been there since he led the team as
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: a player back back in the UH in the late
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: nineties early two thousand for you. Yeah, so it's it's
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: incredible to have him at the Helm. I love hearing
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: you talk about Nasall County. We loved our years in
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: Rockville Center. We're getting that all those Hawter boys together.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: One of our guards James Shaeffer, a Zaverian alums as
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: a bar in Manhattan, Shaffers and we're getting that whole
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: team together.
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to Sit In Friends in the Morning.
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: You can hear Sit in Friends in the Morning weekday mornings.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: It's six.
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: If you liked the podcast, share it with your friends
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: and listen anytime at WABC radio dot com and download
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: the WABC Radio app. Hit that subscribe button on all
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: major podcast platforms, Plus follow WABC on social on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook,
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: and X see you next time for a new episode,
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: so you never have to wonder
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: What the heck is going on here