Mar 21, 2026
3 min read
Willard was frustrated with his team's inability to guard base plays out of Utah State's backfield.
Midway through the first half, Villanova coach Kevin Willard prepared to change his coaching staff.
The No. 8 Wildcats were trailing No. And he wasn't shy about sharing his thoughts in his intergame interview with TNT sideline reporter Lauren Shehady.
"I'm going to fire my staff," Willard said mid-game.
Willard told reporters after the loss that "it was a joke," though he said unprompted on the postgame conference call that he wanted to fire them, and only when asked directly about it did he call it a joke.
Frustration arose from real struggle.Until then, Utah State had scored 16 points.It finished with a team-low 42 in an 86-76 win, eliminating Willard's teams in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
"Welcome to my life," said the 50-year-old man."It's funny."
Former two-time national championship-winning Villanova coach Jay Wright was at Viejas Arena in San Diego to watch the Wildcats push hard to advance to the first round.Wright retired from coaching in 2022. Kyle Neptune took over the next three seasons, and Villanova failed to make the tournament in any of those years.
in 2025Willard from Maryland entered.In his first season at the helm, the Wildcats went 24-9 and returned to March Madness for the first time since Wright's departure.
“This group had a great attitude all year,” Willard said."They were a great group to coach. We didn't have a lot of expectations at the beginning of the year. A lot of people were talking about them. I think they went above and beyond what anyone thought they would and they did it with a great attitude and a great group to coach."
"This team was one of the best I've ever coached. I looked forward to coming to practice every day. I looked forward to the games every day. They were just a really good team, and I think they represented the university at a very high level."
They just need to improve their defense and go beyond the limits.
