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Maryland Coach Kevin Willard to Villanova




Kind of crappy to do this right before the sweet 16 game.
Seems like a lateral move at best. Gary Williams proved you can win at Maryland so why would you bolt when you have them rolling. Plus it’s a Big 10 job can’t get more security than that in this college environment. I seen a tweet that said Willard convinced Rick Jr. not to take that job. I can’t remember if it was the fake twitter guy or not though. Strange.
 
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Kevin Willard played high school at Tates Creek in Lexington and college at WKU.
His Father is Ralph Willard, who coached under Pitino at UK.
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Fred was the only good one out of the bunch it seems.
 
This is the one complaint I have with the transfer portal. It needs to stay closed until the tournament is done. Because now those guys can't declare to transfer if they still have to play. Coaches have to focus on the tourney (or should be) and programs that are still in it are at a two-three week disadvantage. Not fair to anyone.
 
Nothing official out there yet but a ton of rumors and scuttlebutt. The Maryland fans online seem to be so mad at him for the public comments this week he might not be welcome back...
 
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Nothing official out there yet but a ton of rumors and scuttlebutt. The Maryland fans online seem to be so mad at him for the public comments this week he might not be welcome back...

I mean DeVries basically said he was talking to IU behind WVU's back.
Pitino was probably doing so with Xavier.
And now this.
 
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Didn't he just tell Lil Pitino not to take the Villanova job because it lacked NIL?
Currently there seems to be a lot of concern about the Big East schools being in the best position for basketball by not needing to revenue share as much or at all with football. We'll see...
 
Weird news. Not sure how you allow this to leak for a seemingly lateral move. Not like he's making a huge step up. Or, maybe he's angling for a big pay raise from Maryland.
Per Maryland fans they have one of the lowest NIL's in the country and their AD was an idiot. They are also speculating the Big East is gonna be dominant when revenue sharing happens since they don't really have football worth speaking of.
 
Doing this while your team is still playing in the tournament just seems crazy and wrong to me.

I read somewhere that the AD who hired him to Maryland just stepped down a few days ago and is taking the AD job at SMU.

Doesn't make the incredibly bad timing of this any more tolerable............. but at least explains his desire to get out if he feels that no one at Maryland has his back.
 
Villanova is probably a better job. Relatively strong fan base with some solid basketball history. Probably better money. Not sure about the conference thing but I understand him taking it. Philadelphia isn’t a great place to live but Maryland isn’t wonderful either.
 
Villanova is probably a better job. Relatively strong fan base with some solid basketball history. Probably better money. Not sure about the conference thing but I understand him taking it. Philadelphia isn’t a great place to live but Maryland isn’t wonderful either.

More pressure at Nova. They have a basketball tradition and expect you to compete for titles here and there.
 
Didn't he just tell Lil Pitino not to take the Villanova job because it lacked NIL?
No. That was just some random Maryland fan trying to make a joke tweet about why Willard wouldnt' be leaving. And it's not like that one guy that lied about Hurley who pretend to be a reporter. But he used the word "Report" in his tweet, so a few people assumed he was an actual media person with info. It would be like taking Bucky Small Hooves seriously.
 
This is the one complaint I have with the transfer portal. It needs to stay closed until the tournament is done. Because now those guys can't declare to transfer if they still have to play. Coaches have to focus on the tourney (or should be) and programs that are still in it are at a two-three week disadvantage. Not fair to anyone.
I agree
 
just coI mean DeVries basically said he was talking to IU behind WVU's back.
Pitino was probably doing so with Xavier.
And now this.

just common practice
wasn't he at the end of his contract & trying to renegotiate a new one
supposedly wasn't happy about several things including NIL
but he also said he wanted to stay and expand what Lefty, Gary Williams & others had done
 
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Yes, their AD just left. Also, many here in Maryland think it is a leverage ploy.

Willard just did a massive dump on the program saying it needs more funding and backing. He refused to sign the contract extension until a new AD is hired.
 
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Quite possibly the craziest coaching drama I can remember since the Roy Williams to North Carolina rumors started while he had Kansas in the Final Four. You just don’t see many guys up and leave a power conference job without it being a face saving move before they get fired, and it’s even more shocking to be leaving the Big 10 voluntarily in a time when they’re positioned to be one of the two conferences that are ahead of even the other power conferences. Add in the allegations that he’s essentially checking out on his team that’s still alive in the Sweet 16, and this is a real doozy.
 
Quite possibly the craziest coaching drama I can remember since the Roy Williams to North Carolina rumors started while he had Kansas in the Final Four. You just don’t see many guys up and leave a power conference job without it being a face saving move before they get fired, and it’s even more shocking to be leaving the Big 10 voluntarily in a time when they’re positioned to be one of the two conferences that are ahead of even the other power conferences. Add in the allegations that he’s essentially checking out on his team that’s still alive in the Sweet 16, and this is a real doozy.
We had this happen to a lesser extent last year with Cal checking out in February, talking to Ohio State I think it was.
 
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