Lowry, the "Bad-Boy" Who Wasn't

Found this article about Villanova coach Jay Wright with a little background info on Lowry. It's a bit lengthy...

http://blog.pennlive.com/davidjones/2010/01/jay_wrights_substance_trumps_s.html

LOWRY, THE "BAD-BOY" WHO WASN'T

Spoiler

The Nova Nation concept of a family atmosphere where all the former players and alums are welcomed back is something Wright has consciously worked on. Consider that one of the player parents in that crowd last Sunday was none other than Lowry's mother Marie Hollaway. Her son has been gone from the program for four years and is getting 20 to 25 minutes a game as the backup point for the NBA’s Houston Rockets. He’s bought her a nice, new house in south Jersey.

So, what was she doing at this game?

"It is family. When you’re there, they make you feel like you’re still as important a part of it as anyone else. Once you’re a part of it, you can’t not be a part of it."

There’s also a certain degree of gratitude in Holloway’s voice as if Wright turned her son’s life around simply by caring about him. She said Kyle was always "a sweetheart of a kid," but carried some bitterness as a teen, mistrustful of men because his own father was never in evidence:

"As his mom, I’ll say Kyle could be a little attitude-ish. He could be a little tough to coach. He could be a handful. I know that."

Wright decided to explore Lowry without aggressively recruiting him. "It wasn’t really a recruiting process," he said. "Kyle started coming by the office and we would just sit and talk. Then, we met Marie and she started coming over. It was more educational."

The ‘Nova staff was salivating. Wright was cautious.

"Everyone on the staff wanted Kyle. And I was saying to him, ‘I’ve heard all these things about you, Kyle. This is what Villanova is. This is the kind of person we want you to be. This is the kind of player we want you to be. Do you want to be that?’"

In a way, it was the same liberating style he’d used on Claxton: This is what I am if you want me to be your coach.

Lange said a trip to the Wachovia Center was set up in 2003 during Lowry's official visit in which he would be given the grand tour. It's common for recruits to have their names flashed on the Jumbotron with a specially recorded soundtrack pumped over the P.A. in which the recruit's name is peppered throughout fabricated play-by-play read by the school's radio announcer. Hokey? Everyone does it.

But Lange said Wright was woozy and a little hung-over from his brother's wedding the night before. He decided to just order cheesesteaks and hang out in the campus hotel room in which the school had boarded Lowry and skip the Wachovia circus.

And so, the coup de grace of the on-campus visit consisted entirely of Wright, Lange and Lowry lounging around the hotel room and watching college football on TV.

Lange recalled the scene. Lowry at first gave one- and two-word answers or rolled his eyes at Wright's questions about his goals and future, flashing the petulant demeanor of which others had warned. But Wright never tensed and only offered a smiling, "All right, that's fine," as if not in the least flustered. He calmly, persistently continued to ask questions. Gradually, Lowry softened.

"Over the three hours in that room, you could see the connection," said Lange. "Like Kyle was thinking, 'This guy actually cares about me.' I left that room knowing we were getting Kyle. It was classic Jay."

Remembered Wright: "The more I talked to Kyle and the more I met his mother, the more I realized, this is a good kid who’s a little misunderstood. Now, some of the things said about him were true. But I really just believed deep in his soul he was a really good kid. So, we were willing to take a chance."

It was Lange who pushed hardest for Wright to recruit a kid others warned was a “coach-killer,” the unruly type who'd get you fired.

“When my wife delivered our first child in December of 2003, Kyle called the hospital room to see if she needed anything,” said Lange. “He brought her a gift for the baby.

“The kid would call my home line when we were away on recruiting trips and make sure she felt safe and OK.

“Jay saw that heart in him. That's why he wanted him, so he could cultivate it.”

Lowry spun onto the Big East scene in 2004-05 like the Tasmanian Devil, a willing human pinball, not just creating but craving contact with a style built on the Philadelphia streets. Along with Randy Foye, Allan Ray and Mike Nardi, he composed a four-guard lineup in 2005-2006 that terrorized opponents ill-equipped to match their breakdown and shooting skills.

Lowry and friends finally wore out and succumbed to the lack of a power game in the 2006 Midwest Regional final, losing to eventual two-time national champ Florida. Lowry left after that sophomore year and was picked by the Rockets 24th overall in the 2006 draft.

Marie Hollaway still credits Wright and his staff for setting her son on the right path – just by caring about him:

"He treats each of these kids as his own. What he would want for [youngest son] Colin, he wants for these kids."

 

Yeah when I read that I was