Villanova fires head coach Kyle Neptune

Villanova has fired head men’s basketball coach Kyle Neptune, On3’s Joe Tipton reported on Saturday. He spent the past three seasons as the Wildcats coach, taking over when Jay Wright retired at the end of the 2021-22 season.

Neptune had a winning record overall during his tenure, finshing 53-46. However, he failed to lead Villanova to an NCAA Tournament in that span.

Neptune’s contract was through 2028, the school will owe him a buyout as a result. That is estimated to be in between the $6.6-8.8 million range.

This past season, the Wildcats finished 18-13 (11-9 Big East) during the regular season to earn the No. 6 seed in the Big East Tournament. Unfortunately, though that tied Neptune’s win total from a season ago, he still fell just shy of receiving an NCAA Tournament bid.

Prior to Neptune taking over, Villanova had made nine straight NCAA Tournament appearances under Wright. That included national titles in 2016 and 2018 as well as a Final Four finish in 2022.

The Wildcats made the NIT the past two seasons under Neptune and lost in the first round both times. Prior to taking over at Villanova, he was the head coach at Fordham for one season, leading the Rams to a 16-16 finish in 2021-22. Kyle Neptune was also an assistant coach at Villanova from 2013-21. Prior to that, he was an assistant at Niagara from 2010-13.

Villanova is considered a college basketball blue blood with seven Final Fours and three national championships in its history. That in mind, the standard is higher than what the results have been the past few seasons and the job is sure to attract plenty of attention from up and coming coaches.