As soon as the final buzzer sounded Friday night in TCU and Seton Hall’s NCAA Tournament game, the rumors began to brew about Seton Hall’s head coach Kevin Willard leaving for Maryland.
Saturday morning those rumors took a step further. According to CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein, Maryland is “zeroed in” on Willard as their next head coach.
College basketball insider Adam Zagoria reports an announcement of Willard being the Terrapins head coach “could come on Monday.”
Willard has been at Seton Hall for 12 seasons. The Pirates have made five appearances in the last six NCAA Tournaments. They won the 2016 Big East tournament under Willard and were the conference regular season champions in 2020.
However, Willard has been unable to carry that success deep in March. He has a 1-5 record in the NCAA Tournament following Seton Hall’s 69-42 loss to TCU Friday night.
That lack of success in March is a concern for many following Maryland closely, who felt the Terrapins could have made a bigger splash in its coaching search.
In recent years, Maryland fans voiced their frustration with the struggles in March for Mark Turgeon. While he did a decent job at winning games, his lack of success in March irked the Maryland faithful and they didn’t hide their feelings. Ultimately, Turgeon stepped down in December eight games into this season.
Doesn’t sound like Willard is a popular choice in Maryland. However, there are some that have a positive spin on the choice.
Rick Pitino, Andy Enfield and Mike Brey were some names rumored for the Terrapins’ opening. But Pitino made it clear he is comfortable remaining at Iona. Enfield received a contract extension from USC to back off Maryland’s interest. Brey seems firmly entrenched at Notre Dame.
Is Willard the best Maryland could get? Maybe. But if the hire becomes official, he’ll have to do a lot to please the fan base and erase the unpleasant memories of the Turgeon era.
