May 27, 2005
The Nova Notebook, by Villanova director of media relations Mike Sheridan, appears each week beginning in the fall and continues through the basketball regular season. In April through August, there are monthly entries. In the May edition we visit with new associate head coach Brett Gunning.
As a young fan growing up near Villanova, Brett Gunning soaked up all the knowledge he could about his favorite basketball program. He attended games and was a fixture at the Villanova Basketball camps each summer, ultimately impressing members of then coach Rollie Massimino's staff with his work ethic and thirst for the game.
"Growing up I thought I had a pretty good handle on what this program was about," Gunning says now.
It turns out there was so much more to see. Since returning to the area in 2001 as a part of head coach Jay Wright's coaching staff, Gunning has gained a new appreciation for the program he once followed so closely.
"When I was younger I knew this was a big-time basketball program," Gunning explains, "but I don't think I appreciated the depth of the passion people have for Villanova basketball. It really hit me this year when we were in Nashville for the NCAA Tournament games. The level of enthusiasm people had for our success was tremendous."
Few individuals have as unique a perspective on where Villanova basketball is today than Gunning. After graduating from Malvern Prep, where he first came to know Wright and the rest of Massimino's coaching staff, Gunning spent two years as a Villanova student. He then followed Massimino to UNLV, where he was a student coach. In 1994, he accompanied Wright to his first head coaching job at Hofstra University and has been alongside for every step of the way in the years since.
Now Gunning has a new title. Wright elevated him to replace Fred Hill as associate head coach on May 27.
"Coach Wright and I have talked about this a lot in the last few weeks," Gunning states. "I just want to try to do all I can to make his job easier. Because I have worked with him for so long, I think I have a good idea of what he wants."
Indeed, there may be no more valuable quality in an assistant coach than a comprehension of what the boss prefers, especially with regard to evaluating young talent. It would be difficult to list anyone in basketball who has a better sense of Wright's philosophy than Gunning.
When Gunning travels to watch a high school player, he always does so with a keen awareness of the mantras of Wright's system: attitude, defense and a willingness to play hard on every possession.
"There are times when I might see a player who isn't rated as highly as another player at his position," states Gunning. "But by watching him I can tell that this is the kind of player that Coach Wright will really like. This is someone who I can really see fitting into our system."
Gunning estimates that he has known Wright for nearly 20 years. The two first met when Wright began working the Villanova basketball camps after entering coaching in 1984 and the bond grew when Wright joined Massimino's staff in 1987. The duo have essentially worked together in some manner ever since.
"I would say what I have most learned from him is kind of a non-basketball thing," Gunning states. "The thing I see from him every day is just how he carries himself. We talk about it all the time with our guys, but Coach Wright really does have a great attitude. He's just so consistent with it. In this business there are days when you can really get down, but he always bounces back."
In Wright's first season as a head coach at Hofstra, Gunning was the junior member of the coaching staff alongside current Pride head coach Tom Pecora and current Columbia head coach Joe Jones. Hofstra was playing well and came into Philadelphia early in the America East season to face perennial league power Drexel, led by current New York Knick Malik Rose.
"Joe and I were so fired up," Gunning recalls with a smile. "We had studied the tapes and, in our mind, we were ready to upset them."
From the opening tip, Drexel dominated. The contest was essentially decided, in Gunning's words, "by the first television timeout."
"We were crushed," Gunning says. "But Coach Wright kept his composure."
A more recent example of that even temperament took place last January. Facing No. 9 and undefeated Boston College at the Conte Forum without Jason Fraser (broken hand), the Wildcats played a brave game and took a 66-60 lead over the Eagles with 110 seconds left on the clock. However, BC scored the final seven points of the contest to pull out a 67-66 victory.
Inside the Villanova locker room, the `Cats were crestfallen. An old pattern had repeated itself for the second time in two games - VU had fallen to Georgetown 66-64 four days earlier on a pair free throws converted with .1 seconds left on the clock - and it was hard to shake the feeling that this was Groundhog Day. Wright may have been the only one in the room that night not pondering that thought.
"That was a devastating loss," Gunning notes. "And one of the hardest things to do in this business is to get a team going again after a loss like that."
Worse still, the Wildcats were less than 72 hours away from playing host to another undefeated squad, No. 2 Kansas at the Wachovia Center. It was a prospect that could have been overwhelming to a team featuring a hobbled Curtis Sumpter (sprained right knee) and no Fraser.
"One of Coach Wright's greatest qualities is his ability to get a team focused on the next game after a loss like that," Gunning states. "He did a tremendous job of that after Boston College."
Villanova blasted Kansas 83-62, kick starting a stretch run that would ultimately take the Wildcats to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1988.
There have been other colleagues who have impacted Gunning's approach too.
"I've been fortunate to work with some great people," Gunning states. "Tom Pecora is an unbelievable people person and I learned a lot of basketball from him. From Freddie Hill I saw some of the intricacies of what it takes to be a big-time recruiter at this level. And I don't know that I've ever met a nicer, more caring person than Joe Jones. It's fun to watch his teams now at Columbia because they really reflect that quality in him."
For his part, Gunning is comfortable toiling in the background. It wasn't an issue for him when folks focused on Pecora and Jones at Hofstra, or Hill, Jones or current colleague Ed Pinckney at Villanova. He has quietly been involved in every aspect of this program since 2001, including oversight of the student-athletes academic progress, on-court teaching and recruiting. And while his title has been altered, the general themes have not.
"We've worked well as a staff and that's not going to change," he says. "With Eddie and Pat (Chambers) we have a group of coaches who work very well together. It's an exciting time."
Especially for a onetime fan who has seen Villanova basketball from nearly every vantage point imaginable.
