Report: Kevin Willard plans to leave Maryland for Villanova opening

Maryland head coach Kevin Willard is reportedly expected to leave the Terrapins to take the same job at Villanova, according to Taylor Lyons of The Baltimore Sun. According to Lyons’ report, Maryland administrators have relayed the message to men’s basketball boosters.

The program is reportedly making a “last-ditch effort” to retain Willard at Maryland. The report comes shortly after the Terrapins were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament by Florida in the Sweet 16 on Thursday.

After the loss, Willard addressed the media and stated that, “I don’t know what I’m doing,” regarding his future with Maryland, or whatever his next step may be. However, he didn’t say that his agent wasn’t working on that for him. “I have an agent, I’m sure he’s talking to people. That’s what agents like to do,” he said.

However, rumors throughout Maryland’s run in the NCAA Tournament have caused fans to question the head coach. Moreover, Willard has deflected questions from media regarding his future with the program. It appears as though that reason has come to light.

If the final effort from Maryland to keep him with the program falls short, however, it appears as though Willard will be the next head coach for the Villanova Wildcats. Williams would finish his time at Maryland with a 65-38 record across three seasons. The Terrapins made two NCAA Tournaments during his tenure, and finished this past season with a 27-8 record.

After their season ended, however, Villanova went forward with firing head men’s basketball coach Kyle Neptune after spending the past three seasons as the Wildcats coach. He took 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.

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. A higher standard is expected inside the Wildcats program, and it remains to be seen if Willard can bring that back to the Wildcats program.