Getty Images
The New York Knicks are in the market for a new coach after firing Tom Thibodeau, and their focus is on established, experienced coaches. The Knicks are reportedly planning on requesting permission to interview Mavericks coach Jason Kidd for the job — with the Rockets declining to allow them to do so with Ime Udoka.
While other recently fired big name NBA coaches make up most of the rest of their expected candidate list — Taylor Jenkins, Michael Malone, Frank Vogel, Mike Budenholzer and Mike Brown — their roster filled with former Villanova stars made many wonder if retired Wildcats coach Jay Wright might be a candidate as well. On Saturday, CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander received word that Wright is not a candidate for the job despite his connection to many of the team’s stars and GM Leon Rose.
As that news traveled around the NBA, it reached one of his former Villanova stars on the Knicks, Josh Hart. Hart couldn’t resist offering a public response to Wright not being a candidate, happily telling his former coach to “stay retired.”
Hart, Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges all played for Wright and won national titles at Villanova with him, but Hart seems to prefer to let those fond memories remain in the past and not to try and run it back in New York. NBA teams have long been interested in Wright, but he seems genuinely happy to be retired and doing TV analysis, which brings far less stress than what he’d face taking over a Knicks team with title-or-bust expectations.
..
