 Willard in 2012. | |
| Current position | |
|---|---|
| Title | Head coach |
| Team | Maryland |
| Conference | Big Ten |
| Record | 32–20 (.615) |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | April 6, 1975 Huntington, New York, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1992–1993 | Western Kentucky |
| 1994–1997 | Pittsburgh |
| Position(s) | Point guard |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1997–2001 | Boston Celtics (assistant) |
| 2001–2007 | Louisville (assistant) |
| 2007–2010 | Iona |
| 2010–2022 | Seton Hall |
| 2022–present | Maryland |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 302–230 (.568) |
| Tournaments | 2–6 (NCAA Division I) 1–1 (NIT) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| Big East tournament (2016) Big East regular season (2020) | |
| Awards | |
| Big East Co-Coach of the Year (2016) MAAC Coach of the Year (2010) | |
Kevin Schreiber Willard (born April 6, 1975) is an American college basketball coach and the current head men's basketball coach at the University of Maryland. Willard played basketball at Western Kentucky during the 1992–93 season (his freshman year) before transferring to Pittsburgh to finish his playing career.
Willard's father, Ralph Willard, was the associate head coach at Louisville and a former head men's basketball coach at Holy Cross, Pittsburgh, and Western Kentucky.
Willard started his coaching career in the NBA ranks, working on the bench with coach Rick Pitino of the Boston Celtics. After Pitino resigned from the Celtics in 2001, Willard followed him to Louisville, and spent the next six years there as his assistant.
He is the former head coach of Iona College, where he took over the reins after Jeff Ruland was fired after going 2–28 in 2007. Willard came to Iona after spending ten years as an assistant under Rick Pitino.[1] In his third season with Iona, Willard led the Gaels to the 14th 20-win season in program history. It was a nine-win improvement from his first two seasons in New Rochelle. After inheriting a program that was 10th to last in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI),[a] the Gaels improved to a Top 80 RPI in 2009–10, the highest turnaround over the time span in NCAA Division I. After completing the turnaround, on March 28, 2010, Willard accepted the head coaching position at Seton Hall University, a school that competes in the Big East Conference.[b] He led the Pirates to the 2016 Big East championship. On March 14, 2019, he became the first Pirates head coach to lead the team to four straight 20 win seasons.[2] After Seton Hall beat Rutgers University on December 12, 2021, Willard passed P.J. Carlesimo for second place in program history with 213 wins. Only Honey Russell (295) has more wins than Willard.[3] On March 21, 2022, Willard accepted a job to be the next head basketball coach at the University of Maryland.[4] Willard led the Terps to a NCAA Tournament bid in his first season as head coach. The team ended up beating West Virginia 67–65 in the Round of 64 before losing to Alabama 51–73 in the Round of 32.