After watching their conference tournament run come to an end on Saturday vs. Michigan, Maryland men’s basketball is gearing for their hopeful NCAA Tournament run with the selection show with a four-seed now the expected landing spot. But teams with no postseason hope have already shifted attention toward the beginning of the offseason, and Villanova’s decision to fire head coach Kyle Neptune after three seasons could impact Maryland.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported current Maryland head coach Kevin Willard as one of three primary candidates for the Villanova head coaching vacancy on Saturday and reiterated Willard’s candidacy ahead of Sunday’s SEC championship.
“Villanova is very well-resourced,” Thamel said on Saturday. “They have plenty of NIL money. They just couldn’t figure it out on the floor. Here’s a few names that Villanova will be looking at. I think an aspirational name is going to be Marquette’s Shaka Smart. Don’t expect him to reciprocate interest. He has been very happy at Marquette. Three names that will be in the crosshairs – VCU’s Ryan Odom, Maryland’s Kevin Willard and New Mexico’s Richard Pitino. Odom is also a Virginia target. All those teams are obviously headed to the NCAA tournament, so look, these searches are going to be awkward. You’re going to have teams playing, coaches coaching. We’ll see who Villanova can land.”
If Willard were to leave prior to March 31, 2025, Maryland would be owed $2 million. If Willard departs on or after April 1, Maryland would be owed $1.5 million. But whether Willard actually leaves is now the ultimate question with the possibility of returning to the Big East, where he spent 12 seasons as the head coach at Seton Hall. Though omitted from Thamel’s report on Saturday, Northwestern head coach Chris Collins has also drawn buzz as a potential candidate as the Wildcats look to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021-22.
Update: Maryland is working toward a new contract for Kevin Willard, working to make him on of the top-ten highest paid coaches across college basketball, per Jon Rothstein
Willard has guided Maryland to its second 20-win season and top-five Big Ten regular season finishes with the program’s second sub.-500 season in the last four years sandwiched in between.
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