Sportando: Mike Nardi to retire, join Villanova's coaching staff

Is Mike Nardi ready to return to the Main Line? Sportando is reporting that Nardi will retire, and may join the Villanova staff as an assistant coach. Nardi has been a mainstay in Italy for the last eight seasons (he holds an Italian passport) where he has played for Avellino, Pesaro, Pavia, Milano, Forlì and Latina.

I'm not sure I'm ready to buy this as something close to a done deal yet, however. No departures have been announced to the Villanova staff, which currently features Baker Dunleavy as Jay Wright's top assistant, as well as Ashley Howard, Kyle Neptune and Jason Donnelly in other assistant roles. Brooks Sales joined last season as the Director of Student-Athlete Development - a role that has been previously filled by former Villanova players who played for Wright.

As of right now the bench appears very full, so if Nardi is joining the program in some capacity it would have to be in some newly created role, or as a replacement to one of the current staffers.

Cue the comments about how he will be a great influence to both Ryan Arcidiacono and Donte DiVincenzo!