Kevin Willard opens up on Maryland basketball exit: "I just wanted a little bit more control"

Ahmed Ghafir
Jun 11
3 min read

For the first time since taking the Villanova job, Kevin Willard opened up on his ugly exit after three seasons as the head coach of Maryland men’s basketball.

“I know it turned out ugly, but I love the place. It’s a great place,” Willard told Seth Davis. “I like the fan base. I know they hate me, but I loved living there. I loved everything about it.”

Willard’s candidacy as the next Villanova head coach become the dominating storyline through Maryland’s postseason run that ended with the first Sweet 16 appearance in nine years. In the days leading up to the Sweet 16 matchup vs. Florida, the eventual champion, chatter picked up that a departure from the program moved from a possibility to a probability. For Willard, he made the easy choice to point to the departure of his former boss.

“Someone I know at SMU called and he asked, how’s your guy? I’m like, oh, he’s great. Why? He said, he just took the job,” Willard recalled of Damon Evans, who is already one month into his new job. “I just wasn’t expecting that.”

It was Willard who made public that Evans was likely SMU-bound during his opening round press conference, stating Evans was “probably going to SMU, so it's kind of tough to negotiate with somebody that's maybe not here.”

“It was a really weird feeling because there was no thought process on me leaving,” Willard told Davis. “But when the guy that hired you leaves and now all of a sudden you have no idea who’s coming in, and oh by the way there’s a really, really great program that wants you, that’s when you have to start thinking about things.”

Willard also made headlines after noting, “I wanted to spend an extra night in New York this year to celebrate Christmas with my team and I was told that we can't do that because it's too expensive.” It marked the first explicit shot at Maryland’s lack of NIL and resources under Damon Evans, a problem that became a norm under his leadership.

“My point about the New York deal was, that was an example of what was going on,” Willard added in Wednesday’s feature. “It was nothing horrendous or anything. I just wanted a little bit more control. I wanted a little bit more flexibility with some of the things within the program. I didn’t want to deal with certain people. It wasn’t like I was asking for a lot of money or anything. I just wanted my program to get treated better.”

The biggest question was when the players knew with sources previously noting that Willard repeatedly told the players in the days leading up to the NCAA Tournament games that he expected to remain at Maryland.

“I was as honest with my players as I was with the media,” Willard said. “I told them exactly what was happening. They knew exactly what was going on the whole time. Why do you think they played so well?”

With Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Rodney Rice both taking seven-figure deals at Tennessee and USC, Willard also added he “took a lot of pride knowing that two of my players were some of the highest-paid guys in the portal.” He also added a trio of familiar faces with Braden Pierce, Malachi Palmer and Tafara Gapare all transferring to Villanova while Chris Jeffrey, the one-time lone 2025 signee, flipped him pledge to join the Wildcats.

Willard's interview came two days after The Baltimore Sun reported on Willard's fractured relationships at Maryland dating back to his first season with the program.

"Willard's instantly fractured relationship with his own athletic department splintered from there over the next three years, developing into a cold resentment for former athletic director Damon Evans that led to a messy breakup and a dark cloud that hovered over the men's basketball team's drama-filled run to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament."

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