Despite having a five-star freshman and a starting lineup hailed as the “Crab Five,” head coach Kevin Willard has been Maryland’s biggest headline through the NCAA Tournament.
Thursday night was the start of the men’s Sweet 16 and Maryland was one of few teams only wins away from eternal glory. Yet, Willard has seemingly been focused on his next job instead of his current one.
The idea of Willard taking the vacant Villanova head coaching position was all the talk leading up to No. 4 Maryland’s game against No. 1 Florida on Thursday, and it only continued after the Terrapins’ 87-71 loss as it was reportedly a done deal.
“Maryland administrators have told at least one prominent men’s basketball booster that Kevin Willard plans to leave for Villanova,” the Baltimore Sun reported approximately an hour after the game’s conclusion, citing a “source with direct knowledge of the situation.”
But FOX and NBC Sports’ John Fanta disputed the claim, reporting “This report is not true, a Maryland athletics official tells me. ‘Our focus remains on keeping Coach Willard at the University of Maryland,’ the official says.’”
So which is it? Perhaps we can get the news straight from the horse’s mouth?
“I don’t know what I’m doing. I haven’t talked to my agent and I haven’t talked to my wife,” Willard said after the Sweet 16 elimination “I have an agent, and I’m sure he’s talking to people, but I don’t know.”
Willard’s answer was eerily similar to when he was asked the same question three years ago when he had quietly taken the Maryland job while coaching at Seton Hall: “I have an agent who I haven’t talked to yet,” Willard said at the time.
“My biggest concerns in life right now are I don’t know who my boss is going to be,” Willard added Thursday night.
Willard was just up in arms in the last week regarding Maryland’s athletic director leaving for the same job at SMU and about Maryland’s lack of NIL spending.
“This is going to be a family decision. I love College Park and I love Maryland,” Willard went on. “But when you’re at this point in your career and you’re looking at things, I have to take everything into consideration about what’s moving forward.”
Everything Willard said after the “but” seems to point toward what the whole world thinks it already knows about Willard: he’s headed to Villanova. Otherwise, you’d expect a committed coach to shut down these types of rumors.
He was booed at his own send-off for the Sweet 16, and he deflected questions surrounding his drama while continuing to add fuel to the uncertainty.
Would he have done anything differently over the drama-riddled past week?
“Nope. Nothing,” Willard answered.
