Why Jay Wright should be the BIG EAST Coach of the Year

Coach of Year awards are dumb. At least, the voting process for Coach of Year awards are dumb.

Because of this voting, Jay Wright won't be your 2015-16 BIG EAST Coach of the Year, Chris Mack of Xavier will be. That's a mistake.

While Mack and his Musketeer team have an undeniably great season, what are we rewarding? Are we rewarding them for our low expectations? How about for their improvement from last year? Should we really be rewarding someone for having a down season the year prior?

The Coach of Year award should always be given to the best coast in the conference. It's why Gregg Popovich should win it every year. It's why Bill Belichick should do the same, and it's why Jay Wright should win it this year.

Wright's Wildcats, at 27-4, were the best team in the BIG EAST this season, and Wright did the best job coaching of anyone in the conference. The team showed marked improvements on both ends of the floor from last year to this, and has become a legitimate threat of the winning the 2016 NCAA Tournament.

Individuals like Josh Hart and Kris Jenkins have greatly improved their all-around games, so much so that both could be likely preseason candidates for BIG EAST POTY next season. But that gets overlooked because we expect Villanova to be great. Should we be punishing Wright and the Wildcats for demonstrating a consistent culture of excellence within their program?

The argument for Wright is simple, he's the best in the conference at what he does on a year-to-year basis. If you want to reward prior disappointments, go ahead and give the award to someone else. But if you think the coach of the year should be the best coach in the conference that year and every other year, it's unquestionable who you should be voting for.