Kevin Willard is having quite the NCAA Tournament

Kevin Willard was seen as a big hire for Maryland back in 2022. After taking Seton Hall to five NCAA Tournament appearances — would have been six if not for the COVID-19 cancellation — in 12 seasons, the former WKU guard and long-time Rick Pitino assistant was leaving one of the toughest jobs in the Big East for one with more resources.

I get the sense that Willard may be regretting that decision now.

Maryland (27-8) is up to No. 10 overall in KenPom‘s rankings. That is the program’s highest mark since the Terps cut down the nets with Gary Williams in 2002. On Friday night in San Francisco, the Terps will play No. 1 seed Florida in the biggest game for the program in College Park in at least a decade.

Yet, most of the talk around Maryland basketball is no longer centered around Derik Queen‘s game-winner against Colorado State in the Round of 32.

DERIK QUEEN FTW 😱

OH MY GOODNESS 🤯#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/06QRH6eK3R

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 24, 2025

Is Kevin Willard really going to leave a good Big Ten job for the Big East? That seems likely.

On March 16, reports surfaced that Maryland were workings towards a contract extension that would include a raise and a financial commitment from the university on revenue-sharing cap. The Terps are also in the process of building a $50 million practice facility. But Willard wants more.

The head coach never signed the contract.

“I need to make fundamental changes to the program,” Willard answered when asked why he hasn’t agreed to the Maryland contract offer. “That’s what I’m focused on right now. That’s why probably a deal hasn’t got done because I want to see — I need to see fundamental changes done. I want this program to be great. I want it to be the best in the country. I want to win a national championship, but there’s things that need to change.”

In Seattle during the first weekend of the tournament, Kevin Willard claims that Maryland has been in very bad NIL shape and there are massive budget issues. The head coach was highly disappointed that his team could not spend an extra night in New York in December. The 49-year-old is using leverage from a big season, and the job interest from Villanova to campaign for change, but things have somehow gotten rockier since those comments.

Director of Athletics Damon Evans officially left Maryland for the same position at SMU on Friday during Maryland’s NCAA Tournament run. Villanova still hasn’t hired a coach seeing potential targets Ryan Odom (Virginia), Richard Pitino (Xavier), and Chris Collins (contract extenstion with Northwestern) sign new deals. That leaves Willard as the top candidate left on the board.

Things got juicier on Wednesday in San Francisco. When asked about the problems at Maryland, Kevin Willard gave us an all-time deflection.

Kevin Willard with a masterclass in deflection 🤣 pic.twitter.com/oE8vz9sOTK

— Tommy Godin (@tommygodinjr) March 26, 2025

Willard’s incredible NCAA Tournament rolls on. Will it continue with an Elite Eight berth and a win over No. 1 seed Florida? We will find out on Thursday night at the house that Stephen Curry built. All signs seem to be pointing to Willard leaving. Maryland head football coach Mike Locksley chimed in on the issue on Tuesday. Things are getting salty in College Park.

“Since I’ve been here, I’ve gotten the resources that I’ve needed to build a foundation,” Locksley said. “Every family has its issues and dirty little secrets, but I believe those should be handled individually — behind closed doors, within the family.”

Massive changes are coming to college athletics with revenue-sharing. This move will put the onus on universities to provide the capital needed to pay players. Collectives and NIL deals will still be around, but the schools will now be the primary funders. That creates some tough decisions. Willard is attempting to put the Maryland administration’s feet to the fire. One of the suits making decisions just left College Park for Dallas. A potential basketball vs. football funding rivalry is brewing in the Big Ten.

It probably ends with Kevin Willard leaving the Big Ten for a job in the Big East where Villanova does not have to worry about funding a power conference football program because they don’t have one. College sports as we know it are changing in a seismic way.

Now the settlement just needs to pass. Once it does, schools can distribute up to $20.5 to athletes. Kevin Willard likely wants a pretty big chunk of that pie. But so does the Maryland football program. This is probably not the last time we see a coach using public pressure to try and get more funding for his program.

What a time to be alive.