Mike Boynton Concerned With Implications of Jay Wright’s Retirement

The longtime Villanova coach is someone younger coaches should look up to, the head coach said in his interview.

Jay Wright will not be on the coaching staff of a college basketball team in 2022 for the first time since 1984, and Oklahoma State basketball coach Mike Boynton thinks this is not good for the game.

Wright finished his 21-year career as Villanova’s head coach with two national championship titles. Boynton spoke with Sports Illustrated’s Jason Jordan, and he said he thinks Wright, along with coaches such as Roy Williams and Mike Krzyzewski, were role models in college hoops, and now the game will be shaped without their leadership.

“Who is it good for that Jay Wright decided that he doesn’t want to coach college basketball anymore?” Boynton said. “I don’t think it’s good for our game. It’s certainly not good for any of the players. It’s not good for the future coaches who need to learn and watch a guy as professional as he is.” 

Many of the longtime college basketball coaches are no longer working in the game, and Boynton thinks the change will impact the next generation of coaches by not having coaches like Wright in leadership roles.

“He’s supposed to be an example to young coaches and to kids, and now he’s going to be sitting on the sidelines, unfortunately, but not literally on the sidelines coaching,” Boynton said.

In Wright’s place next season, 37-year-old Kyle Neptune will lead Villanova basketball.

Watch the video above for Jordan’s full converation with Boynton.

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