Jay Wright Has Informed Knicks He Doesn’t Want To Coach Them

Jay Wright will not be coming out of retirement to coach the New York Knicks. 

The Villanova legend is close with Knicks president Leon Rose and coached Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges in college. 

However, Wright is enjoying retirement.

BREAKING: Jay Wright has confirmed to me that he has informed the Knicks that he is not interested in any coaching position and plans to remain retired.

— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) June 7, 2025

The Knicks need a new head coach after firing Tom Thibodeau, who went 226-174 in the regular season and 24-23 in the postseason and won the 2021 Coach of the Year Award with New York. 

Despite making the conference finals this year for the first time since 2000, the Knicks chose to fire Thibodeau, who is owed $30 million. 

According to Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports, Knicks owner James Dolan spearheaded the Thibodeau firing. 

“What was clear was Thibodeau’s firing being spearheaded by Knicks owner James Dolan, sources told Yahoo Sports. Dolan and team president Leon Rose held exit meetings with key Knicks players and the complaints were clear,” Goodwill wrote. “Dolan, whom sources said was never a huge Thibodeau fan through the years, asked the questions in the meeting while Rose took a secondary role.”

The Knicks lost to the Indiana Pacers in this year’s conference finals in six games.

According to Goodwill, some New York players weren’t thrilled playing for Thibodeau. 

“A couple of players felt like Thibodeau played the starters too many minutes and felt he had an inability to adjust, sources said, and another player said he didn’t feel like he could play for Thibodeau if the coach returned next season,” Goodwill wrote. 

The Knicks are interested in Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd, Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka and Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch. All three coaches are under contract, so New York can’t get them.