Why Jay Wright should leave Villanova to coach the Philadelphia 76ers

Comparisons

First, let’s examine some college coaches who have transitioned from amateur basketball to the pros. The doubters of Jay Wright’s jump to the NBA immediately bring up John Beilein, who did not last a full season with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He is a poor comparison to Jay Wright though, because Beilein does not have Wright’s style, demeanor, or resume. On top of that, how many NCAA championships did Beilein win compared to Wright? Exactly.

The other factor that cannot be overlooked is the team that Beilein coached —  a Cleveland team that was far past the LeBron days and a dysfunctional locker room that eventually led Beilein to calling players “thugs” during a video session. Can you imagine Jay Wright addressing his players like this? Beilein was doomed from the start. More suitable college coach comparisons include Larry Brown, Rick Pitino, Brad Stevens, and Billy Donovan.

From a ring perspective, Pitino and Donovan both won multiple NCAA National Championships like Wright. Both had success in their early NBA head coaching years. Going back to 1987, Pitino led his Knicks team, that included Patrick Ewing, to its first Atlantic Division title in a decade. With Billy Donovan, he only won two NCAA Championship rings with the Florida Gators and went on to coach the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Championship the next year. Brad Stevens is the only college coach in this bunch who did not win a title in the NCAA, but he did lead his Butler Bulldogs to back-to-back championship games when he was only 34 years old.

The final example of a successful college coach going to the NBA is Larry Brown. Winning an NCAA Championship with Kansas in 1988, Brown saw himself coaching in the pros and returned to coach in multiple cities before finally lifting the Larry O’Brien Trophy with the Pistons in 2004. The common denominator? Each of the successful coaches just mentioned either had a winning style of coaching that translated to the professional level or an NBA roster with at least one bonafide star. With Jay Wright, he would enter the Sixers organization with the luxury of both.