This rumor has been kicking around on Twitter and at least one Big East message board the last couple of days. It made its way into our inbox on Monday night. Note that Wright was initially going to resign yesterday:
Jay Wright will resign tomorrow after reveling that he got a coed pregnant.
Hmm. I wrote back to ask our tipster how he knew this. No response. I checked with a source and heard there was nothing to it. And though the rumor was on a Villanova message board at some point earlier that day, it had already been deleted by the site's administrator.
But that didn't stop it. Nope. Here's what we got at 7:55 last night:
Not sure if you guys have seen this yet, but have it on pretty good authority that jay wright is going to be forced to resign tomorrow for impregnating a villanova freshman from the soccer team. Don't have any concrete evidence but worth sending out the deadspin bat signal.
So now we've gone from "coed" to "a freshman from the soccer team." And "on pretty good authority."
I asked what "pretty good authority" meant. Dude wrote back to say he had heard it from the son of an administrator with ties to the athletic department. Even gave me the guy's name. By now I figured I'd check with another source who actually works in the athletic department. I also checked out the administrator and discovered he had a listed phone number.
Also, some other blog was reporting it as some sort of exclusive. The headline has since been changed, and a disclaimer has also been added, but note the permalink:
Breaking News: Jay Wright To Step Down December 5, 2012
A handful of reporters began acknowledging the rumor on Twitter, but only to say it was untrue. That's when my athletic department source, who declined to speak for the record, phoned to say he was only calling back because others had asked, too. Everything about the report was false, the source said. There would be no press conference, and Wright was not resigning.
Then, this text message from an acquaintance who's a Villanova grad. It was time-stamped at 8:39 p.m.:
When I heard the Jay Wright rumor in June, I immediately thought of texting you but thought it was bullshit. Picking up serious steam tonight. Maybe I was wrong.
Note: If we assume that Jay Wright's secret co-ed girlfriend was at least approaching the end of the first trimester when the pregnancy rumor got established in June, then it's been right around nine months. Where's the scandal baby?
At 9:15 p.m., another text, this time from a friend in Philly:
Yo! Hearing there's something to this Jay Wright thing. Guy I know is a Big 5 vet, knows the coaches. Can't get names or solid story, but if you have contacts maybe you can break it. Guy said he's going to have to reveal a sex scandal. Tried to get detail, but he had none. He knows several Big 5 coaches. I asked him for at least one name. Haven't heard back.
Finally, also right at 9:15 p.m., another email came our way after having been forwarded around several times. This is how it began:
I have it on high authority that Jay Wright will be resigning tomorrow. He's allegedly fathering a child with a freshman at Nova.
Thought I would pass the grim news on. I'm praying that this is just an ugly rumor. However, my source works for the athletic department.
Stay tuned…
Ugly rumor it is. And as ugly paternity rumors go, Villanova basketball has done better.