Jay Wright says he retired as Villanova men's basketball coach because 'I didn't have the edge that I've always had'

Before he made the decision to retire after 21 seasons as men's basketball coach at Villanova, Jay Wright said he lacked the same «edge» this season that he had enjoyed in the past, he said Friday.

During his retirement news conference, which also featured new head coach Kyle Neptune, Wright said there were moments before practices and workouts when he had to give himself a pep talk.

And then he remembered what he'd always told his players: «You're either 100 percent in or you're against us.»

That's when Wright, 60, knew it was time to retire after a Hall of Fame career that included two national championships, eight Big East regular-season titles, a gold medal as an assistant for the U.S. Olympic men's basketball team last summer and 642 victories — of which 520 came with the Wildcats.

«During this season, it started to hit me,» an emotional Wright said about his decision, his voice breaking multiple times. «I started to look at where my coaching was. Everybody being in place: our staff, the team. We wanted to leave this in a better place than we found it. And we wanted it to be strong and in a great position when we left.

»I started to feel just like I didn't have the edge that I've always had where the edge always came natural to me, so I started evaluating it."

Wright said he'd considered retirement for a few years but made the final decision prior to his team's run to the Final Four. He didn't tell the team because he wanted to have answers for his players about what would come next.

Although he'd originally planned to tell his players at a team banquet Thursday, Wright had to tell them Wednesday night after reports had circulated about his decision.

He said he told school officials before he told his players