Villanova Mainstay Mike Nardi Joins UConn, Dan Hurley

Mike Nardi has spent nearly half of his adult life upholding the Villanova Way, first as a player on a team that made the Elite Eight and later as a member of Jay Wright’s coaching staff, helping the Wildcats win the 2018 national championship. Now he’ll serve as an assistant coach under UConn’s Dan Hurley, per a Huskies’ press release.

Nardi played for Villanova from 2003 to 2007, a four-year starter and member of their 2006 Elite Eight team. After ten years playing professionally overseas, Nardi rejoined the Wildcats ahead of the 2017-18 season as an assistant coach under Jay Wright, then later served as interim head coach following Kyle Neptune’s dismissal at the end of the 2024-25 season.

While Nardi helped Villanova reach the College Basketball Crown semifinals in his interim role, compiling a 2-1 record, he and the Wildcats parted ways following the hiring of new head coach Kevin Willard, who imported the coaching staff he’d kept at the University of Maryland.

Now, Nardi will join the Huskies, winners of consecutive national championships in 2023 and 2024 and the only other program in the Big East with a claim to Blue Blood status. UConn ended Villanova’s chance at an NCAA Tournament appearance this season, taking them down in the Big East quarterfinals.

The departure of a Wildcats’ mainstay like Nardi to the staff of ever-polarizing head coach Hurley adds insult to injury for Villanova fans.