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Jay Wright named Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year

By John Buhler

Mar 26, 2016; Louisville, KY, USA; Villanova Wildcats head coach Jay Wright celebrates after beating the Kansas Jayhawks in the south regional final of the NCAA Tournament at KFC YUM!. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 26, 2016; Louisville, KY, USA; Villanova Wildcats head coach Jay Wright celebrates after beating the Kansas Jayhawks in the south regional final of the NCAA Tournament at KFC YUM!. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports /
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Villanova Wildcats head coach Jay Wright wins the 2016 Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year award.

On Sunday afternoon, Villanova Wildcats head coach Jay Wright won the 2016 Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year award presented by the Atlanta Tipoff Club.

This is the second time that Wright has been honored as Coach of the Year. He won the award back in 2006 and joins Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari and Duke Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski as only the third college head coach to win the award on multiple occasions.

Villanova made it to the 2016 Final Four in Houston, defeating Lon Kruger’s Oklahoma Sooners in the National Semifinals Saturday. Wright’s Wildcats are 34-5 on the year and will play Roy Williams’ North Carolina Tar Heels for the 2016 NCAA Championship Game in Houston on Monday night. Wright also won Big East Coach of the Year for the fifth time in his tenure with the Wildcats in Philadelphia.

In a year that didn’t feature any one particularly dominant team composed of elite one-and-done prospects, it was a perfect storm for a veteran team like Villanova that rarely sends underclassmen to the NBA to assert their dominance in the college game.

Villanova stands a great chance to win its second national title and first since 1985 when the Wildcats take on the Tar Heels on Monday night at NRG Stadium in Houston. In 15 years as the head coach of Villanova, 2015-16 was the 11th time that Wright’s Wildcats made the NCAA Tournament and was the second time his team reached the Final Four.

From dominating the Big East in 2015-16, winning their third straight regular season title, perhaps it is Wright’s turn to emerge as one of the college game’s greatest coaches as he embarks on what could be his first National Championship as a head coach for Villanova on Monday night.

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