‘Where was Kevin Willard’s loyalty here?’ Jay Bilas questions new Villanova coach as former players and fans react
Maryland advanced to the Sweet 16 as rumors about Willard’s future swirled around the team.
After a long week of rumors and speculation, Kevin Willard is the new men’s basketball coach at Villanova.
Willard coached Maryland to a Sweet 16 berth, thanks to a last-second shot from Derik Queen, but lost, 87-71, to top-seeded Florida in the NCAA West Regional. But the rumors about Willard and Villanova had already begun to fly in the days before the game, causing Willard to get booed at the team’s send-off.
When asked about the speculation after the season-ending loss, Willard avoided the question, as he had throughout the Terrapins’ tournament run — even if others were talking about it.
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” he said. “I haven’t talked to my agent. I haven’t talked to my wife. 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.”
» READ MORE: Villanova hires Maryland’s Kevin Willard as its next coach
But many fans, and media personalities like Jay Bilas, begged to differ.
“I don’t have a problem with Willard making this move,” Bilas said on ESPN Sunday morning. “... But one thing you don’t hear from the NCAA literati, the administrators, is tampering. This is a coach under contract that a member institution tampered with without permission from the University of Maryland. You don’t hear about loyalty. Where was Kevin Willard’s loyalty here? He made a decision to go to the University of Maryland and sign a long-term contract. Where’s the commitment to the players? What about going through adversity? He didn’t want to go through adversity. … We say all this stuff about players, but we don’t apply it to coaches.”
The news of Willard’s hiring broke extremely early on Sunday — or late Saturday night depending on where you live.
Most of the early online reaction came from Maryland fans angry about the move.
» READ MORE: 5 things to know about Kevin Willard, the new Villanova men's basketball coach
But Villanova fans didn’t let the bitterness stop them from being excited about the hire.
Villanova legend Josh Hart also gave his stamp of approval.
Finally, I’m all in on this idea: Let’s get a Maryland-Villanova game on the books for next year. Those tense environments are always top-tier — just look at Ed Cooley and Providence. Would love to see it play out on the court.