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Maryland coach Kevin Willard's No. 4-seeded Terrapins beat the No. 12-seeded Colorado State Rams 72-71 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Monday in dramatic fashion after a Derik Queen buzzer-beater. The win propelled the Terrapins to the Sweet 16.
Maryland will face the No. 1-seeded Florida Gators in the Sweet 16, but it has not been a happy camp with speculation linking Willard to the vacant Villanova Wildcats job growing. On Wednesday, it was revealed by CBS Sports analyst Jon Rothstein that the Wildcats had secured the signing of Willard and it was also reported that the coach had missed a Maryland team dinner.
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College basketball fans on Reddit had mixed reactions to the news about Kevin Willard taking the Villanova job despite his team still being in the Big Dance.
Analyst links Kevin Willard's situation to athletic director's exit
Kevin Willard was hired as the Maryland Terrapins coach in 2022 by athletic director Damon Evans. On March 16, Willard was offered a contract extension with a commitment to a revenue-share cap for the student-athletes, but the contract remained unsigned.
During a news conference last week, Willard railed against the shape of the Terrapins' NIL state and revealed that it was one of the reasons that he hadn't signed his contract extension.
“I need to make fundamental changes to the program,” Willard said. “That’s what I’m focused on right now. That’s why probably a deal hasn’t got done because I want to see — I need to see fundamental changes done. I want this program to be great. I want it to be the best in the country. I want to win a national championship, but there’s things that need to change.”
Damon Evans left the Terrapins for the SMU Mustangs job last week, and on Wednesday, CBS Sports analyst Jon Rothstein highlighted the role that Evans' departure is playing in Willard's future.
"Things at Maryland are extremely, extremely volatile right now. The AD Damon Evans, who presented Willard with a term sheet, is now set to become the next athletic director at SMU.
"And Kevin Willard has aired a lot of these frustrations publicly throughout the NCAA tournament. But I have never seen a program go to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament and have all this uncertainty surrounding what's going on with their head coach moving forward."
The reports linking Kevin Willard to the Villanova Wildcats job have only grown since Damon Evans departed the athletic director's job, and during his March Madness news conferences, the Maryland coach has dodged questions about his future ahead of his team's Sweet 16 game against the Florida Gators.
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