Maryland’s Kevin Willard accepted Villanova’s offer to become the program’s next head coach, sources confirmed to ESPN, ending more than a week of speculation.

An official announcement could come as early as Sunday.

Maryland just completed one of its best seasons in the past 20 years, earning a 4-seed in the NCAA tournament and making a run to the Sweet 16 before falling to top-seeded Florida. The Terrapins finished 27-9 overall and 14-6 in the Big Ten and were ranked in the top 10 in most predictive metrics. After a 1-3 start to Big Ten play, Maryland lost just four games to Big Ten opponents the rest of the season by a combined nine points.

Willard spent three seasons in College Park, going 65-39 with two NCAA tournament appearances.

He made headlines before Maryland’s first-round NCAA tournament game against Grand Canyon when he essentially broke the news of Maryland athletic director Damon Evans leaving for SMU and explained why he hasn’t signed a new contract in College Park.

“I need to make fundamental changes to the program,” Willard said. “That’s what I’m focused on right now. That’s why probably a deal hasn’t got done because I want to see — I need to see fundamental changes done. I want this program to be great. I want it to be the best in the country, I want to win a national championship, but there’s things that need to change.

“I need to make sure that we are where we are with NIL, and rev share is not where we’ve been with NIL over the past two years. We’ve been one of the worst, if not lowest, in the NIL in the last two years. So, that’s first and foremost. I also have to make a fundamental change where I can do the things that I want to do with my program. I wanted to spend an extra night in New York this year to celebrate Christmas with my team and I was told that we can’t do that because it’s too expensive. So, I don’t know how we can be a top-tier program and I can’t spend one extra night in New York because it’s too expensive.”

As Maryland knocked off Grand Canyon and Colorado State to advance to Willard’s first Sweet 16 and the first for the Terps since 2016, the head coach’s message didn’t change. He acknowledged after Maryland’s Sweet 16 loss to Florida on Thursday that he didn’t know his next step.

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” Willard said. “I’ll be honest with you. I haven’t talked to my agent. I haven’t talked to my wife.”

At Villanova, Willard will replace Kyle Neptune, who failed to reach the NCAA tournament in any of his three seasons in charge of the Wildcats. Neptune took over in 2022 after the sudden retirement of Hall of Fame coach Jay Wright, who led Villanova to two national championships and four Final Four appearances.

It marks a return to the Big East for Willard, a Long Island, New York, native who spent 12 seasons as the head coach at Seton Hall. He led the Pirates to five NCAA tournament appearances and a share of the Big East regular-season title in 2020 — when the program was on track for its highest NCAA tournament seed in nearly 30 years before the tournament was canceled due to the pandemic.

Before taking over at Seton Hall, Willard was the head coach at Iona for three seasons and an assistant coach under Rick Pitino at Louisville and with the Boston Celtics. Willard’s father, Ralph, had previously spent time on Pitino’s staff at multiple stops.

News of Willard accepting Villanova’s offer was first reported by Inside Maryland Sports.

A top-10 NCAA men’s lacrosse battle goes down Saturday afternoon in College Park as the 7th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions take on the No. 2 Maryland Terrapins. The game is scheduled to start at noon ET with TV coverage on BTN and streaming on-demand.

• How to watch: Live streams of the Penn State vs. Maryland game are available with offers from FuboTV (free trial), SlingTV (low intro rate) and DirecTV Stream (free trial).

#7 Penn State Nittany Lions (6-2) at #2 Maryland Terrapins (7-1)

Big Ten lacrosse game at a glance

When: Saturday, March 29 at noon ET

Where: SECU Stadium, College Park, Md.

TV channel: BTN

Live streams: FuboTV (free trial) | SlingTV (low intro rate) | DirecTV Stream (free trial)

The Nittany Lions look to get back into the win column after dropping their Big Ten opener Sunday to No. 9 Ohio State at Panzer Stadium. Penn State sits at 6-2 overall after winning its four previous matchups, the highlight of which was a 13-12 overtime win over No. 3 Cornell on March 8. The Lions face a talented Maryland team that sits at No. 2 in the latest national rankings, but the Terps are also in rebound mode after losing their Big Ten opener to Michigan (11-10 3OT). That setback was Maryland’s first and only loss of the 2025 season so far.

Penn State Nittany Lions vs. Maryland Terrapins: Know your live streaming options

• FuboTV (free trial) – excellent viewer experience with a huge library of live sports content; free trial lengths vary; monthly rate after free trial starts at $79.99.
• SlingTV (low intro rate) – discounted first month is best if you’ve run out of free trials or you’re in the market for 1+ month of TV
• DirecTV Stream (free trial) – not the same level of viewer experience as FuboTV, but the 7-day free trial is still the longest in streaming.

The Lions and Terps are set for a noon ET start on BTN. Live streams are available from FuboTV (free trial), DirecTV Stream (free trial) and SlingTV (low intro rate).