Former Villanova Forward Gapare Chimes In On Willard Interview

Villanova head coach Kevin Willard set the internet ablaze with his sideline interview in the first half of the Wildcats’ season-ending loss to Utah State. Trailing 22-13 after allowing a series of baseline out-of-bounds plays to the Aggies, Willard said he planned to fire his coaching staff for the defensive lapses.

After the game, he clarified that the comment was a joke, but that did little to quell the social media fracas. Former Villanova forward Tafara Gapare, who played under Willard at Maryland last season and followed him to the Main Line, was among the crowd who appeared to react to the clip, tweeting an emoji of a skeptical face wearing a monocle, typically used to indicate suspicion in internet parlance. Gapare departed the program in early January, saying at the time he needed to focus on his mental well-being.

Gapare didn’t respond directly to the clip of Willard’s interview, leaving the one-character tweet open to interpretation. Some fans took umbrage with Gapare’s departure in the comments… not the best course of action when it comes to mental health concerns.

Tough Love Gone Sour?

A former ESPN Top 100 recruit, Gapare struggled to catch on during his first two seasons of college basketball. Willard helped revive his career at Maryland, using what Gapare described as a “tough love approach” in a preseason interview with Philadelphia Sports Now.

“Definitely was a tough love approach to what he was trying to get out of me, but all I had to do was embrace it, and that’s all I wanted to do,” Gapare said. “Took a little toll on me midseason, but I’m back here with him now… Was no doubt. We had many conversations and definitely just figured out what we had to do moving forward into Villanova.”

Gapare never explicitly said whether Willard’s style wore on him as time went on, but the timelines and responses line up.