Kevin Willard leaving Maryland basketball, expected to accept Villanova head coaching position

The saga is officially over.

After just three seasons and a week of nearly nonstop off-court drama, Maryland men’s basketball will look for a new head coach with Kevin Willard expected to take the same position at Villanova, replacing Kyle Neptune. A source confirmed that Willard is expected to meet with his staff and team at 9 AM on Sunday to inform them of his final decision with Villanova still the expected decision, a move that comes days after news broke that it was likely the Terps would be tasked with filling the role once again. Jon Rothstein also reported the news of the Sunday morning team meeting.

The news came shortly after Maryland's season-ending loss vs. Florida in the Sweet 16, ending weeks of speculation.

“I don't know what I'm doing. I'll just be honest with you. I haven't talked to my agent. I haven't talked to my wife,” Willard said postgame. “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.”

Willard was immediately mentioned as a candidate at Villanova, only for reports to surface one day later that Maryland was working toward an extension that made him one of the highest paid coaches in college basketball.

“What I can tell you is Damon Evans and I, he hired me, we're on the same page of what we want to do for this program, what we want to do for this university, his focus and my focus are exactly the same,” Willard said ahead of the NCAA Tournament.

Days later, news broke that athletic director Damon Evans was expected to take the same position at SMU.

“He's probably going to SMU, so it's kind of tough to negotiate with somebody that's maybe not here,” Willard said.

Willard then went on a rant that caught the attention of everyone in the college basketball world.

“I need to make fundamental changes to the program. 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. When you're at a place for three years and you put your heart and soul into it, you kind of sit there and say okay, wait a second for us to be really successful X, Y and Z needs to change and first and foremost, I need to make sure that we are where we are with NIL and rev share is not where we've been with NIL over the past two he years. We've been one of the worse, if not lowest, in the NIL in the last two years. So that's first and foremost. I also have to make a fundamental change where I can do the things that I want to do with my program. I wanted to spend an extra night in New York this year to celebrate Christmas with my team and I was told that we can't do that because it's too expensive. So I don't know how we can be a top-tier program and I can't spend one extra night in New York because it's too expensive. So there's fundamental things I'm fighting for my team and my program. It's not so much about me. I want to make sure that whatever we do going forward we're successful and we're successful at the highest rate. So I am confident that we'll get things done. It's a little difficult right now, I'm not going to lie, but I'm confident that no matter who we're negotiating with at the end of the day, this program's going to be in a great spot and that's really my focus is this Tournament, this team, and this program.”

Now, with the portal already swirling, Maryland men’s basketball will turn the page on the era of self-proclaimed “swagger” without a sitting athletic director.

Willard’s 65 wins are the most over a three-year stretch in program history, while Willard’s 32 league wins are tied with Bud Millikan for the most conference wins over a three-year stretch.

But the results were still filled with plenty of ups and downs, starting with the inability for his team to win on the road following a 2-9 record in true games in year one. But it also featured some signature moments, including a 14-point win over then third-ranked Purdue to deliver on the first court storming in College Park in years. Willard followed it up with a dud after Maryland finished 16-17 in 2023-24, the program’s second sub-.500 season over the last three seasons.

Willard then set the stage for a bounce-back year three after retaining veteran forward Julian Reese and signing prized Baltimore five-star Derik Queen, who became the first Terp to win conference freshman of the Year honors since Joe Smith back in 1993. Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Rodney Rice and Selton Miguel would prove to be all big-time portal wins for Maryland as they rounded out what materialized into the ‘Crab Five.’ That proved to not only materialize into the nation’s highest-scoring lineup, but the recipe for one of the nation’s best teams after recording 14 Big Ten wins, tied for second-most in program history, while posting 17 home wins to mark the most since the 2014-15 season.

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