Reports on a finalized Kevin Willard staff have surfaced, with Ash Howard being the lone member of the previous staff to be retained. The remainder of the staff will be filled out by former Maryland assistants David Cox, Kevin Norris and Greg Manning Jr. As recently as earlier this afternoon rumors persisted at least one sitting DI coach could be a part of the staff, but it doesn't appear that will be the case.

As we mentioned earlier, Mike Nardi confirmed his departure. Dwayne Anderson did the same late Monday evening, as did Jamie Young.

This has yet to be confirmed by the school. If it's not announced officially tomorrow, hopefully we'll get some insight from coach Willard's in-person introductory presser on Wednesday.

Attention will now shift fully to the construction of the 2025-26 roster.

Adam Zagoria is reporting that Mike Nardi will not be a part of Kevin Willard's staff at Villanova.

If this is true, I find it surprising and it also contradicts some previous chatter regarding the staff. Also feels like a mistake, as it Nardi's knowledge of and experience in the program could be beneficial to the transition. I also thought Nardi did a decent job as interim coach during the Crown. If it does prove to be the case, I'll hold off on judgement until one, we see the full makeup of Willard's staff and two, what Nardi's next position is.

With the 2024-25 season in the books, new head coach Kevin Willard has gotten to work building his roster for his first season at Nova, making a pair of additions Sunday evening.

One was HS senior Christian Jeffrey out of Mt. Zion Prep in Maryland. Jeffrey was previously committed to Willard at Maryland but reopened his recruitment upon Willard's departure for Villanova. Rivals has Jeffrey as a three-star recruit who hasn't cracked the Rivals150 yet, but the 6-3, 200-pound guard comes with a college ready body who plays with an edge and can impact both ends of the floor. It's also good, at least from an optics standpoint, that Willard was able to bring a recruit with him from Maryland to Nova. Before his previous commitment to Maryland, schools involved in his recruitment included St. John's, Tennessee, Butler, Mississippi State and Pitt, among others.

The other was Maryland freshman Malachi Palmer. Palmer averaged just 8.4 minutes per game across 22 contests at Maryland as a freshman, but Willard obviously thought enough of the young guard to bring him to Villanova. He was ranked as high as No. 35 in the 2024 class at one point before landing at No. 142 on signing day. During his recruitment he had interest from Kansas, Creighton, Georgetown, Houston, Georgia, Texas Tech, Illinois, Arizona State, Pitt, Oklahoma State, LSU and Oregon, among others. Again, like Jeffrey, it's a plus to see Willard bringing some recruits/players along from Maryland.

Willard and Nova still have plenty of work to do on the roster, so it should be an interesting spring. Speaking of Willard bringing Maryland players to Villanova, a big one still remains on the board in Rodney Rice, which will be one name to watch in the coming days. I'd also suspect we'll start to get some clarity on what current Nova players are doing shortly.

Regardless, it's nice to finally see some progress on the roster build and hopefully this gets things rolling.

The 2024-25 season has come to an end as Villanova fell to UCF in overtime in the semifinals of the College Basketball Crown.

The Cats came out on top in an entertaining game against USC to extend the season for another game.

Nova showed up to the Crown ready to play and easily handled Colorado.

Kevin Willard is hitting the ground running and is coming out swinging. Villanova has offered 2027 five-star forward Baba Oladotun.

Oladuton is currently the No. 3 prospect in the 2027 class. He is from Silver Spring, Maryland.

Villanova has its new head coach. Next comes the assembling of his staff. Here's what we're hearing so far, some of which is pretty interesting.

First, indications are that Mike Nardi will be retained. This feels like a smart move considering Nardi's knowledge of and connection to the program. In addition, it appears Baker Dunleavy will retain his position as general manager.

As for the rest of the staff, there are some interesting rumblings. The biggest is that Willard will be adding a sitting Division I coach to the bench. Some names that have been floated are Delaware head coach Martin Ingelsby and NJIT head coach Grant Billmeier.

There was also some chatter surrounding UConn assistant Kimani Young, but that seems to be mostly speculation. It's hard to see Young making a lateral move at this point as he appears to be in line for a head coaching opportunity sooner than later.

Willard could also look to bring one of his assistants from Maryland with him (David Cox, Kevin Norris, Greg Manning Jr.) or another member of his Maryland staff, although it appears he's looking to build an experience staff so someone like a director of player personnel, director of basketball operations or video coordinator feels much less likely.

It will certainly be interesting to watch Willard put his staff together over the coming days/weeks.

Villanova has officially announced the hiring of Kevin Willard as the next head coach of the men's basketball team. The saga is over.

Story coming with quotes.

Do you like the hire?

It certainly sounds like Kevin Willard will be the next coach at Villanova. There are reports coming from both sides that it's done and even corroborating whispers from other programs. I'm hesitant to call it 100% just because of how bizarre this search has been and neither program has announced anything officially, but I would be surprised if Willard isn't the hire.

Welp...one of Villanova's key remaining targets is off the board, and to a fellow Big East team no less, as Richard Pitino has accepted the job at Xavier.

In my opinion, we're now looking at three scenarios. 1. Nova knows it has Kevin Willard. 2. There is a mystery candidate that will surprise (and hopefully please) everyone. 3. This process has turned into a failure of epic proportions.

I'm not going to lie, I am exhausted from trying to read between lines on the little bit of information that has come out and from trying to separate the noise and posturing from legitimate news. That being said, let's give it one one shot here. If you're optimistic, you take this Pitino news as a clear indication that scenario 1 from above is reality. You believe that Pitino would not have taken the Xavier job while the Nova job was still on the table, and so the fact that he did means he knows Villanova has its guy, seemingly Willard. Similarly, you figure Villanova wouldn't allow Pitino to get away if it wasn't supremely confident (absolutely certain) that it already had its guy. If your pessimistic, scenario 3 is becoming increasingly and concerningly likely.

If I was forced to give my prediction here, I would order the likelihood of each scenario in the order they were presented...Willard is most likely, followed by a mystery candidate, followed by an almost unfathomable mishandling of one of the most important decisions in program history. But even if my read on this is correct and/or you trend towards the optimistic outlook, the fact that we have gotten to this point and that scenario 3 feels like a legitimate possibility is pretty concerning.

This process has been a rollercoaster ride, and the ride isn't over yet. Buckle up.

2025 shooting guard Dante Allen, son of former Villanova player Malik Allen, has announced that he has decommitted from Villanova. Allen is currently ranked as the No. 98 player in the class.

Despite the coaching change, this news comes as somewhat of a surprise to me. I've felt that the legacy part of his commitment was the most important factor, but apparently that is not the case. For what it's worth, Allen said that Villanova will remain in consideration, so clearly he wants to see who the new coach is and likely what players that coach will either bring with him or target in the portal.

At the moment, in addition to not having a coach, Villanova has no commitments in the 2025 class.

There are rumblings that Maryland and former Seton Hall head coach Kevin Willard has been offered the head coach position at Villanova.

There are some definite plusses to this hire if the deal does indeed get done, and we'll get into all that whenever the next coach is actually named.

For now, just wanted to pass along the info as it appears a move has been made. I'll also update if I can get any further confirmation.

As we noted in the other thread, Maryland presented Willard with an extension offer over the weekend. The fact that it hasn't been sign yet is certainly interesting. At the same time, it indicates that Maryland is unlikely to just roll over and let Willard walk without a fight, so even if these reports are true there may be some final hurdles/last minute jostling between the universities.

Do you hope this deal gets to the finish line?

There are A LOT of names flying around at this point regarding Villanova's coaching search.

There are the ones we've already touched on: Ryan Odom, Chris Collins, Richard Pitino, Grant McCasland, Kevin Willard and Jamie Dixon.

Some new ones that have popped up include Mick Cronin, Steve Pikiell and Malik Allen.

So where are we at/what are we hearing on some of these names?

There is a lot of posturing and media play going on, so some of this is hard to distinguish between real smoke and simply one party or the other maneuvering, but we'll do our best to make sense of what we're hearing.

Odom: Currently garnering a lot of buzz for the Virginia job. It appears that some associated with Virginia view it as a done deal. Some believe Odom was using the Nova opening as leverage against Virginia, and there are reports that the parties have worked through the details. I get the sense that Odom to Nova is trending as less likely.

Collins: Collins seemed to emerge as the early favorite. The buzz has quieted somewhat, but it appears Collins is high on Nova's list.

Pitino: Not a ton of noise here, although some New Mexico fans seem to believe Pitino wants the job. I get the sense he remains in play.

McCasland: Haven't heard a peep since he was initially mentioned. This always felt like a bit of a fantasy hire, and right now he doesn't appear to be in play. Then again, maybe that's what Nova wants us to think.

Willard: It appears that Willard is closing in on an extension with Maryland. I believe he was a legitimate candidate but it doesn't look like Maryland is going to let him go.

Dixon: Been quiet regarding Dixon. Intriguing possibility, unclear where things stand on his candidacy.

Cronin: This interest was reported by Adam Zagoria, who is well-respected by the Nova program. People were quick to refute this report, but based on the source I'm inclined to believe that it has at least been explored.

Pikiell: I was ready to dismiss this report, but talking to people close to the Rutgers program the interest is real. I'm told the interest isn't new, and Pikiell has reason to want out of Rutgers (NIL concerns and new AD likely having a football focus). I get the sense he is a more legitimate candidate than you would think.

Allen: I had heard rumors of Allen being a potential candidate months ago. It makes sense as a legacy hire who's son is a member of the incoming recruiting class. But based on the results with Neptune, I can't see Nova going with someone with limited or no head coaching experience. Allen is currently an assistant with the Miami Heat. Again, I understand why his name is floating around, and it's not the first time it's popped up, but I would be stunned if this was the hire.

I'd expect things to get more confusing before they get more clear. Some of these coaches are still coaching in the tournament, and as I said there seems to be a lot of posturing, leveraging and purposeful media leaks going on here. Feels like we're at least a week (maybe a few weeks) away from a resolution here, and more names will likely be tossed into the fray. While it's a fluid situation, I'd say Collins and Pitino are probably the favorites at the moment. Regardless, it should be an interesting few weeks.

There's still basketball to be played for the 2024-25 Wildcats.


Do you have any interest in this game/event? Will you be watching?