1. Jay Wright (Villanova)
The pride of Villanova basketball was the 1985 team, the 8-seed that surprised the nation and won the NCAA Tournament. Rollie Massimino was gone less than a decade later and by 2001 this was still a program in solid shape. These Wildcats weren’t exactly national contenders on a regular basis, but after casting aside Steve Lappas they needed a new voice of leadership. Fortunately for Villanova, they made the best hire of the 2001 offseason.
Jay Wright came aboard after a seven-year stint as head coach at Hofstra. Long before that, he had served as an assistant under Massimino at Villanova and UNLV, though he wasn’t yet around for that title in 1985. At Hofstra, he slowly built the program back into relevance, finishing his tenure with a pair of NCAA Tournament and America East regular-season titles in both 2000 and 2001.
Wright’s run of success with Villanova over these last two decades has been the stuff of legends. In the old Big East, his Wildcats were regularly making NCAA Tournaments, including a Final Four run in 2009. Since the new Big East was formed, Villanova has dominated the conference, amassing national championships in 2016 and 2018. Wright continues to lead the Big East’s best program and has had a profound impact on the Wildcat’s history, rewriting their record books in the process.
We have completed our deeper look into the best coaching hires from 2001; which of these coaches do you think made the greatest impact on their programs?