SAN FRANCISCO — Has Kevin Willard coached his last game at Maryland?
Your guess is as good as his — at least, that’s what he said late Thursday after his 2024-25 season wrapped up.
Willard has been brutally honest since the NCAA Tournament started last week. He didn’t see a reason to change his approach Thursday. Asked about his future in College Park, Willard said he had not thought that far ahead.
“I don’t know what I’m doing, I’ll just be honest,” he said. “I haven’t talked to my agent, 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. I have an agent. I’m sure he’s talking to people because that’s what agents like to do. But I don’t know.”
Willard said he doesn’t even know if he’s been offered the Villanova job — because that offer would be extended through his agent.
“Right now my biggest concerns in life are, I don’t know who my boss is going to be,” Willard said.
Last week, just before the Terps’ first NCAA Tournament game, Maryland athletic director Damon Evans — who hired Willard in 2022 — left for the same position at SMU.
“The guy who brought me here and who I really liked, who I was really appreciative of, he’s gone,” Willard said. “I don’t know who we’re going to hire, and that worries me a lot. I’m just being honest.”
Willard said whatever happens next, it would be “a family decision. I love College Park. I love Maryland. But when you’re at this point in your career and you’re looking at things, I have to take everything into consideration moving forward.”
And no, he doesn’t regret all of his honesty, even if it rubbed some people the wrong way. Willard said he wouldn’t have changed anything about his approach, which included publicly challenging Maryland’s commitment to hoops and wondering aloud if the school’s financial position — both in NIL and revenue-sharing, which is likely to start in the fall — would improve.
When the Terps left the team hotel early Thursday to head to the Chase Center, Maryland fans gathered around the team bus to wish the players well — and to boo Willard.
But even that hasn’t deterred Willard.
“I understand fans are going to be pissed because I’m in limbo and this and that,” he said. “I get it. I’m kind of pissed, to be honest with you, because I didn’t expect to be in this situation.”
Willard didn’t get a chance to finish his thought, though, because a phone went off in the press room and — when it couldn’t be silenced quickly — the moderator ended Willard’s session with the media. As he walked off stage, Willard said to no one in particular, “That phone call saved me.”
(Photo: Eakin Howard / Imagn Images)
