NCAA Tournament: John Beilein eyes first title while Jay Wright looks to join elite crowd with second in three years
Villanova head coach Jay Wright, left, and Michigan head coach John Beilein laugh as they answer questions during an interview for CBS Sports Network's "We Need to Talk" show before the championship game of the Final Four NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, April 1, 2018, in San Antonio. Credit: AP / David J. Phillip
SAN ANTONIO — College basketball coaches politely and correctly say that it is all about the players. Of course, no one gets far without talented people on the court. Except they all know it is more complicated than that. College players come and go, sometimes after one year, and in terms of a team’s brand, it is all about the coach.
That was more than the subtext for the NCAA championship game Monday night at the Alamodome. It was the context.
Villanova’s Jay Wright went into the game knowing that his legacy would approach a new arc with a second title in three years. It was no secret that Michigan’s John Beilein’s respected and distinguished career would be seen in an entirely new light if he finally won it all.
For a coach, the difference between having won or not won a national championship is dramatic. A coach can make it into the Hall of Fame without that big trophy, but it might take until he is 86, as it did for Lefty Driesell, who was introduced here Saturday as a member of the Hall’s class of 2018. He said he intends his enshrinement to be a pearl for his players. “I want them to enjoy it,” he said. “I won’t be around too long to enjoy it.”
Rollie Massimino would surely be a beloved figure at Villanova had he not directed the stunning victory over Georgetown in 1985, but because of that victory, he is an icon. In the first season since his passing, he is an inspiration to the current Wildcats.
Perhaps the best way to describe it is that a national title for a college coach is like having won a major championship for a golfer. “I think what changes is, people look at you differently after you’ve won it. Mostly positively,” Wright said on Sunday. “They just look at you a lot more. You just get a lot more attention.”
In Wright’s case, the 2016 championship has given his approach more credibility. “He’s more comfortable,” said Tom Pecora, his close friend and former assistant coach at Hofstra. “He has developed a system, and that is what all the great programs have.”
Villanova freshman forward Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree said, “The way Coach pushes everybody has helped this program sustain excellence.”
Beilein entered the game with a 541-317 record in 26 seasons as a Division I coach and a wide swath of respect from his peers. He said on Sunday that, if his career never includes a championship, “I honestly say I wouldn’t look at it any differently. I really would not. Others may. You hang in there and you just do your absolute best every day. And someday you’re going to say, ‘I gave everything I had, and if I’m falling into my grave [without a title], that’s OK, too.’
“You just do everything you can to be the best coach, the best mentor, the best teacher, the best husband, the grandfather, the father, every day. And that’s all I want to be.”
Wright, who crossed paths with Beilein at small colleges in upstate New York and in the Big East when the latter coached West Virginia, said, “I know everybody in our business really respects him.”
A championship coach’s respect can go on for generations. Current Villanova players idolize Massimino, who coached at the school long before they were born. He was right behind the bench when Wright, his former assistant, went through the wringer of winning the 2016 title on a buzzer-beater.
“We’re in the championship game, there’s a lot of pressure, and he looks at Coach and tells him to fix his little pocket [handkerchief],” Mikal Bridges said. “Everybody was nervous, everybody was really anxious for this game, and you just see him point at Coach like, ‘You’ve got to coach, but fix this first.’ ”
