Villanova is set to hire Maryland’s Kevin Willard as its next head coach, sources told FOX Sports early Sunday morning.
Willard is departing College Park after going 65-38 over the last three seasons with two NCAA Tournament trips and taking the Terrapins to the program’s first Sweet 16 since 2016. Maryland fell to No. 1-seeded Florida, 87-71, on Thursday.
Before arriving at Maryland in 2022, Willard spent 12 years coaching in the Big East at Seton Hall, where he charged the Pirates to five NCAA Tournaments in six seasons before departing for College Park.
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Now, Willard will head to the Main Line to try to recreate what a former rival of his, Jay Wright, had rolling at Villanova before Kyle Neptune took over in 2022.
Willard, who has Northeast roots, had become disconnected with the Maryland athletic department in recent weeks. The 49-year-old head coach recently voiced frustrations with Maryland higher-ups, and after athletic director Damon Evans left to take the same job at SMU last week, the Terrapins’ athletic department has been left in a state of chaos as interim AD Colleen Sorem took over.
Willard’s relationship with Sorem had soured in recent months, according to sources, particularly during an exchange in December when Sorem would not allow the team to stay in New York City for an extra night during the holiday season.
“Losing the athletic director has been a little hard, to be honest,” Willard said in a radio interview on the “Kevin Sheehan Show” on Wednesday. “I wasn’t expecting Damon to leave for SMU. But I’ve been working with [Maryland Deputy Athletic Director/Chief Strategy Officer] Brian Ullman and everyone in the department, and they’ve been great.
“I don’t want monumental things. I just want this program to be the best it can be,” Willard added. “I’m not asking for that much. I don’t want someone telling me we’re going to do it— I want it in my contract. I don’t want people making decisions about my program who aren’t involved in my program. Those are big ones for me. I live it, breathe it, every day. This fan base expects it, but this place hasn’t been treated that way for a long time. My goal is to get it there.”
Maryland had prepared a financial package to make Willard one of the 10 highest paid coaches in America, sources told FOX Sports. But this move was a family decision to be near his previous home state of New Jersey and to be the king at a school he gained major respect for in his Big East days – Villanova.
John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a variety of capacities, from calling games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Network to providing commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him at @John_Fanta.
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