Kyle Neptune, ‘07, has been named head coach of the Villanova men’s basketball team.
Neptune succeeds Jay Wright, the winningest coach in program history, who stepped down on Wednesday after leading the program for 21 seasons. Under Wright’s tenure, the Wildcats made 16 NCAA tournament entries, advancing to four Final Fours and winning two National Championships.
Neptune played basketball for four years at Lehigh, from 2003 to 2007. In his freshman year, the Mountain Hawks won their first-ever Patriot League title, earning them the 16-seed in the NCAA Tournament, where they lost to Florida A&M in the first round. He was the captain of the 2006-07 team which lost to Army in the Patriot League quarterfinals.
In his time at Lehigh, Neptune averaged 7.6 points, 1.2 assists and 3.9 rebounds.
Before taking over Fordham University men’s program in March 2021, Neptune worked under Wright at Villanova as a video coordinator from 2008 to 2010 and as an assistant coach from 2013 to 2021. During his time as an assistant on the Villanova staff, the Wildcats won the National Championship in 2016.
In between his first two stints at Villanova, he spent three seasons as an assistant at Niagara University in Lewiston, New York.
Neptune inherits a Villanova program which recently fell to Kansas, the eventual NCAA champion, in the 2022 Final Four.
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