The worst kept secret in college basketball became a reality early Sunday morning as multiple reports confirmed that Maryland coach Kevin Willard is going to be the next coach at Villanova.
The news was first reported by Jeff Ermann at InsideMDSports.
Willard guided the Terrapins to the Sweet 16 this season, finishing 27-9 in his third season with the team. But with his athletic director, Damon Evans, leaving for the same post at SMU last week, and fans growing increasingly frustrated with Willard’s refusal to commit to the program, the move seemed imminent all week.
Following the Terrapins 87-71 loss to Maryland on Thursday, Willard was asked about his future, and his answer did nothing to quell speculation he might be bound for the Philadelphia suburbs.
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” Willard said in the postgame press conference. “I’ll just be honest with you. I haven’t talked to my agent. I haven’t talked to my wife. I made a promise to this team that I was going to just focus on this team and that’s all I’ve done. So I haven’t talked to anybody. I have an agent. I’m sure he’s talking to people because that’s what agents like to do. But I don’t know.”
At Villanova, Willard returns to the Big East to attempt to revive a sagging program. Former coach Jay Wright spent 21 seasons leading the Wildcats and, in the back end of his tenure, reached elite status. Wright guided Villanova to four Final Fours and won two national championships — in 2016 and 2018.
But after making it to the 2022 Final Four, Wright stunningly walked away from coaching, in some ways, the predecessor to other early coaching retirements, including fellow national champion Tony Bennett at Virginia.
The Wildcats turned the program over to Wright’s former assistant, Kyle Neptune, but Villanova fell off steeply.
Neptune went just 54-47 in three seasons with the Wildcats and was fired on March 15.
Willard spent 12 seasons in the Big East at Seton Hall, guiding the Pirates to five NCAA tournaments in his last seven years. But those teams never advanced past the first weekend.
After Derik McQueen’s game-winner lifted Maryland past Colorado State and into the Sweet 16, Willard talked about his regret at not leading the Pirates deeper into March — and his joy at getting this year’s Terrapins there.
“I know it’s always been on my back and it’s always been a stigma, but I knew I had confidence in myself that eventually if you keep getting to this tournament, which my teams keep getting to this tournament, that I was eventually going to knock the door down,” Willard said. “I wish I would have done it at Seton Hall, to be honest with you, first. It’s a place I loved and still love and they were so good to me. I wish I would have been able to do it there. But I’m glad that — this is only our second Sweet 16 in 23 years here – so I’m just as happy that it happened at Maryland.”
After Saturday’s loss, Willard said — all the outside noise not withstanding — he had a good experience leading this year’s team.
“I really enjoyed coaching this basketball team,” Willard said. “From the time they stepped on campus in June, they’ve just been so much fun to coach, and to kind of see them grow together, have the wins we had on the road, have some of the toughest losses that I’ve ever dealt with, buzzer-beaters, and to overcome that was huge for me. It was one of those things — it was just a whole lot of fun.”
Willard’s departure creates another high-profile job opening in the midst of the NCAA Tournament. And an intriguing name reportedly has interest in the Terrapins post.
Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams, who has led the Aggies, Virginia Tech and Marquette to NCAA appearances, is reportedly eying the position. Williams is in his sixth year at A&M, where he has posted four straight 20-plus win seasons and three straight NCAA Tournament trips.
He left Marquette for Virginia Tech after six seasons and bolted from the Hokies after five years to take over in College Station.
