Kevin Willard ‘jokes’ about firing staff after Villanova’s defensive struggles in NCAA loss

It was only midway through the first half, but Villanova head coach Kevin Willard was already ready for a change in his coaching staff.

The No. 8 Wildcats trailed No. 9 Utah State 22-16, and the Aggies had been punishing Willard’s team on baseline out-of-bounds plays. And he wasn’t shy about sharing his thoughts with TNT sideline reporter Lauren Shehadi in his midgame interview.

“I’m going to fire my staff,” Willard said midgame. “We’ve given up 8 points on underneath out-of-bounds defense. The only thing I’m gonna do is fire them and get a new staff.”

Willard told reporters after the loss that “it was a joke,” though he did say unprompted in his postgame conference that he was going to fire them, and only after he was asked directly about it again did he call it a joke.

The frustration sprouted from real struggle. To that point, Utah State had scored 16 points in the paint. It finished with 42 down low in an 86-76 win, eliminating Willard’s teams in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

“Welcome to my life,” the 50-year-old said. “It’s a joke.”

Former Villanova two-time national championship-winning coach Jay Wright was in Viejas Arena in San Diego to watch the Wildcats get muscled into a first-round exit. Wright retired from coaching in 2022. Kyle Neptune took over for the next three seasons, and Villanova failed to make the tournament in any of those years.

Enter Willard from Maryland in 2025. The Wildcats went 24-9 in his first season at the helm, returning to March Madness for the first time since Wright left.

“This group had a great attitude all year,” Willard said. “They were a great group to coach. There weren’t a lot of expectations early in the year. A lot of people were talking down about them. I think they were way beyond what everyone thought they were going to be, and they did it with a great attitude and a great bunch to coach.

“This group was one of my best I’ve ever had coaching. I looked forward to getting to practice every day. I looked forward to games every day. They were just a really good group, and I think they represented the university at a very high level.”

They just have to improve on their out-of-bounds defense.