By William Bowman
LEWISBURG -- Tommy Thompson wonders what would have happened if Jay Wright walked away, taken the other fork at a critical intersection in his life.
Wright had a good enough head on his shoulders, even as a college kid, that Thompson was confident Wright would have been a success. But he wonders whehter it would have come in a different place, in a far different arena. It mostly certainly would not have landed the Bucknell alumnus in Detroit this weekend for the Final Four as the head basketball coach at Villanova.
Wright, a 1983 Bucknell graduate, leads the Wildcats into their first Final Four in 24 years Saturday when they take on top-seeded North Carolina. The winner advances to Monday's national championship.
Thompson isn't sure whehter any of it would have happened had Wright quit the Bucknell basketball team as a senior, which he nearly did.
As a junior, Wright was the team's leading scorer and MVP. He was named captain heading into his final season in Lewisburg under head coach Charlie Woollum and under Thompson, a longtime assistant with the Bison. But the coaches wanted him to come off the bench as a senior and Wright wasn't sure that was what he wanted.
"We had to talk to him out of quitting a couple of times," said Thompson, a 1960 Bucknell graduate and Lewisburg resident. "A couple of years ago, he came back when (Villanova) played here. I asked him if he ever thought about what he would have done if he quit basketball. He stuck it out and has really made something of himself."
Wright told Philadelphia-area media last week about the story. He said the coaches "talked me down off the cliff. (Woollum) said, You've got to finish this. For the rest of your life, you're going to be able to say that you finished, that you were a captain.'"
Being a sub difficult
The 47-year-old Wright admits it was tough to come off the bench. And while his production dropped dramatically -- from 12 points a night to 3 -- the Bison won 10 more games his senior year.
For Thompson, it was especially tough. When Wright arrived in 1979 -- Pat Flannery's senior year with the Bison -- as a freshman from Council Rock, Bucks County, Thompson was in charge of the JV team so he and Wright became close immediately.
Wright played exclusively for him as a freshman before playing in 19 varsity games as a sophomore, averaging about 2.5 points a night. Even then, Thompson said he saw the makings of not just a special player, but a special person.
"He was very knowledgeable player but had average abilities," Thompson said. "He knew what he was doing on the floor, but he didn't have the quickness going both ways. He was a decent shooter if he had time. He couldn't really pull up coming off the dribble, but he could really knock down open shots."
As a point guard, Wright obviously understood the game, which likely laid the foundation for his coaching career, Thompson said.
First stop: Rochester
After leaving Bucknell with degrees in economics and sociology, Wright began his coaching career in 1984 as an assistant at Rochester, then moved to Drexel from 1987-92 before coaching for five seasons at Villanova under Rollie Massimino. He followed Massimino to UNLV for two seasons before getting his first head coaching job at Hofstra in 1994.
He led the Pride to two NCAA appearances, earning America East Coach of the Year honors twice. He then took over at Villanova in 2001 and has a 178-90 mark on the Main Line, including a school-record 30 wins this season.
While Wright's court accolades are certainly noteworthy, perhaps most impressive is that every player who has spent four years with Wright at either Hofstra or Villanova has earned a degree.
"He was a Philly kid who really knew the game," Thompson remembers. "He was really into that Big 5 stuff. He wanted to go to Villanova, but wasn't sure if he could play there, so he came to Bucknell. It was the right decision."
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