Kevin Willard bolting Maryland for Villanova after ugly March Madness saga
- Thread starter Halldan1
- Start date
Willard going to watch Nova women play a game today. Then flies to Vegas. I am sure FS 1 will give him a catered interview.
Yeah, we had strings attached with those 2 for sure. Public knowledge. It works the same everywhere else. To argue that Sha was not the top recruiter is not true. Hill was brought in to save Willard's job. Sha got Powell, Carrington, Rhoden and I'm sure many more. He was the main recruiter on staff, no argument to be had here.
they're disgusted by the thought of it based on how it all went down with willard.
wait how much?
Yes this was a way to leverage distrutors in mid atlantic and nyc areas to come to carriage agreements for btn
As part of everyone’s basic cable package, essentially. Never appreciated this until I think SPK or someone else here familiar with the media stuff explained it to me. They don’t even care that Rutgers football isn’t a draw in this market.
And now that the number of TVs in a market isn’t a fraction as important as it once was, the decision appears shortsighted, with Rutgers contributing virtually nothing to the partnership now.
Willard wasn't a snake when the same set of circumstances led to him leaving SHU for Maryland. Now doing the same thing he's a snake?
Hypocrisy at its finest.
Hypocrisy at its finest.
Bunch of whiners who think they have a great program but its pretty clear they are not as committed as most B10 teams. Can't blame Willard for leaving. He would not have succeeded there for too much longer. He's doing them a favor and helping them learn what a tough environment this is.
His issue is he is too forthright in those interviews and he likes to use them as part of the negotiation. He lost his AD that is everything in this environment and the Maryland President does not seem too committed to the basketball team. So Willard saw an opportunity and he jumped on it. The Terps have also run some good coaches out of town too.
Agreed.
Willard had every right to pay his buyout and leave for Nova. He could have said I loved my time here, but my AD is gone and an opportunity opened up that I could not pass up. End of comments.
All that being said, if he stayed and got all the commitments he asked for, the fan base would love him.
That guy Erman praised his press conference where he mentioned the AD was heading to SMU. Erman called it a "boss move" and a sign Willard was staying because he wanted the AD out.
Willard had every right to pay his buyout and leave for Nova. He could have said I loved my time here, but my AD is gone and an opportunity opened up that I could not pass up. End of comments.
All that being said, if he stayed and got all the commitments he asked for, the fan base would love him.
That guy Erman praised his press conference where he mentioned the AD was heading to SMU. Erman called it a "boss move" and a sign Willard was staying because he wanted the AD out.
They are the bully getting bullied. They had a distorted view that their program was esteemed but are now getting healthy dose of reality and are performing mental gymnastics to try and justify their misguided perspective of Maryland basketball,
I don’t feel any sympathy for Maryland, but how hard would it have been for Willard to shut his mouth and take the Nova job? Torching Maryland on the way out was completely unnecessary and unprofessional.
If he had been earnestly lobbying, however publicly, for more resources, I think it would've gone down a little easier. And perhaps in the beginning, it was earnest - he was on Villanova's list, but maybe the third or fourth guy, so he was maybe trying to cultivate the land if he had to remain in College Park.
But once it got to the second weekend (and he likely figured he wouldn't need that much material, given his record), and it was pretty certain the job was his and he was leaving no matter what, he should've stifled it and put the focus on his players. So, as it turns put, he shit on the front steps (as SVP put it), calling out everything that's unattractive about the job, and also stole the Sweet Sixteen experience from his players, who had earned it. That part rang distinctly familiar to me. I didn't much care if he left when he did in 2022, but in orchestrating the whole thing the way he did, he essentially flushed the entire experience for his players and us fans.
Just saw something about Buzz Williams finalizing a deal to be Maryland's next HC.
Am I alone in thinking that's an upgrade over Willard?
Am I alone in thinking that's an upgrade over Willard?
Nope, not at all. He's not Coach K, but he's done some nice work. My only hesitancy on him (not that I actually care what happens to Maryland) is that he gathers no moss. He stays for five or six years and it's on to the next thing. But I guess it stems the bleeding.
He absolutely is. I would assume A&M has a war chest of NIL money, I wonder why he left. He has stated in the past he feels its best to start new every so often.
Always amazing when a coach is hired within 48 hours. As if Maryland wasn't in contact with Buzz's people while he was coaching at T A&M.
They will have him for 3 years. Will likely produce and then bolt to the next step up.
With no AD that is pretty good. Or more likely Buzz agent was in contact with Maryland when Willard started wavering. Buzz has lots of contacts in that area as he coached VaTech. Buzz wanted out of a football school.
