Maryland hires former Seton Corridor coach Kevin Willard as males’s basketball coach

Maryland has employed Seton Hall‘s Kevin Willard as its subsequent head coach, the varsity introduced Monday morning.

Willard arrives in Faculty Park after 12 seasons at Seton Corridor.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Kevin to the Terrapin household,” athletic director Damon Evans stated in an announcement. “We’re enthusiastic about the way forward for Maryland basketball with Kevin main the best way. Recognized for his gritty, hard-working groups, Kevin has had large success, profitable convention championships and main his groups to NCAA Tournaments. He has made a behavior of scheduling difficult opponents and profitable in these video games as evidenced by his file towards Huge Ten groups in recent times. He has familiarity with the area, being a local New Yorker and having spent a lot of his life within the Northeast hall. We welcome Kevin, his spouse Julie, and their sons Colin and Chase to the Maryland household and we sit up for the subsequent nice chapter in Terrapin basketball historical past.”

Willard had been thought-about a favourite within the Maryland search because the job opened in early December following Mark Turgeon’s resignation.

“Rising up and training within the area, I’ve all the time admired Maryland basketball. Being named head coach of one of many nation’s premier basketball applications is an amazing honor,” Willard stated in a ready assertion. “Thanks to President Pines and Damon Evans for trusting me to energise this proud program as we glance to provoke our passionate fanbase with a gritty, hard-working model of basketball. Having coached towards Maryland a number of instances and at XFINITY Middle, I understand how Terp followers really feel about this crew. I embrace the excessive expectations. Talent improvement and a dedication to tutorial success will likely be cornerstones of our program and I can promise Terp Nation we are going to work to make them pleased with this basketball crew as we construct winners on the courtroom and within the classroom. Julie and our boys are excited to affix the Terrapin household.”

A Lengthy Island native, Willard, 46, performed his school ball at Western Kentucky and Pittsburgh earlier than starting his teaching profession as an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics beneath Rick Pitino. He adopted Pitino to Louisville, the place he spent six seasons as an assistant coach earlier than taking the head-coaching job at Iona. In 15 seasons as a head coach, Willard has been to 5 NCAA tournaments and gained a share of the Huge East regular-season title in 2020.

Seton Corridor has missed the NCAA match simply as soon as since 2015, stumbling down the stretch final season to play itself out of the combination. The Pirates bounced again this season by beginning 9-1 with wins over Michigan and Texas after which closed the marketing campaign with wins in eight of their ultimate 10 common season video games. Their season resulted in a 69-42 blowout loss to TCU within the first spherical of the NCAA match.

Seton Corridor has completed within the prime half of the Huge East in every of the final seven seasons. In 12 seasons with the Pirates, Willard had an total file of 225-161.

He is the son of Ralph Willard, who spent practically 40 years in teaching — together with stints as the top coach at Western Kentucky, Pittsburgh and Holy Cross.

Willard replaces Turgeon, who guided Maryland to 5 NCAA tournaments in 10 seasons earlier than instantly stepping down in early December. The Terrapins superior previous the primary weekend of the match simply as soon as beneath Turgeon, however they gained a share of the Huge Ten regular-season title in 2020.

Following Turgeon’s resignation, Danny Manning was named interim head coach. After a preseason prime 25 rating, Maryland completed simply 15-17 total and 7-13 within the Huge Ten.