Kevin Schreiber Willard (born April 6, 1975) is an American

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach and the incoming men's basketball head coach at Villanova University. Willard played basketball at Western Kentucky during the 1992–93 season before transferring to

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

to finish his playing career. Willard's father, Ralph Willard, was the associate head coach at

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

and a former head men's basketball coach at Western Kentucky,

, and Holy Cross. Kevin Willard started his coaching career in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

ranks, working on the bench with coach

Rick Pitino Richard Andrew Pitino (; born September 18, 1952) is an American basketball coach who is the head men's basketball coach at St. John's University (New York City), St. John's University. He was also the head coach of Greece national basketball t ...

of the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

. After Pitino resigned from the Celtics in 2001, Willard followed him to

, and spent the next six years there as his assistant. He is the former head coach of Iona College, where he took over the reins after Jeff Ruland was fired after going 2–28 in 2007. Willard came to Iona after spending 10 years as an assistant under Rick Pitino. In his third season with Iona, Willard led the Gaels to the 14th 20-win season in program history. It was a nine-win improvement from his first two seasons in New Rochelle. After inheriting a program that was 10th to last in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), the Gaels improved to a Top 80 RPI in 2009–10, the highest turnaround over that time span in NCAA Division I. After completing the turnaround, on March 28, 2010, Willard accepted the head coaching position at

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...

, a school that competes in the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

. He led the Pirates to the 2016 Big East championship. On March 14, 2019, he became the first Pirates head coach to lead the team to four straight 20 win seasons. After Seton Hall beat Rutgers University on December 12, 2021, Willard passed P.J. Carlesimo for second place in program history with 213 wins. Only Honey Russell (295) has more wins than Willard. On March 21, 2022, Willard accepted the job to be the next head basketball coach at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

. Willard led the Terps to an NCAA Tournament bid in his first season as head coach. The team ended up beating

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

67–65 in the Round of 64 before losing to

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

73–51 in the Round of 32. In the 2024–2025 season, Willard led Maryland to a 27–9 record with a 14–6 conference record. Maryland earned the 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and defeated Illinois in the quarterfinals before losing to Michigan 81–80. Maryland earned a 4-seed in the NCAA Tournament, where Willard led the Terps to their first Sweet Sixteen since 2016. At the conclusion of the season, Willard was announced as the new head coach at Villanova.

Head coaching record

Footnotes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willard, Kevin 1975 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from New York (state) Basketball players from New York (state) Boston Celtics assistant coaches Bowling Green High School (Kentucky) alumni College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Iona Gaels men's basketball coaches Louisville Cardinals men's basketball coaches Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball players Point guards Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Huntington, New York Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball players Villanova Wildcats men's basketball coaches 20th-century American sportsmen