Report: Maryland Searching for a New Head Coach

With Villanova silent on their ongoing head coaching search, the focus turns to the rest of the college basketball landscape to glean information on the Wildcats’ targets, including Maryland head coach Kevin Willard.

One of those updates trickled out on Thursday, March 27, with a report from Chick Hernandez, a Washington, DC area media personality for WUSA9 Sports and CBS Sports Network, who said that Maryland’s athletic department, which contracted a hiring firm to find a new athletic director to replace Damon Evans, asked the firm to add head coaching candidates to the list.

This could be just in case, a safeguard against Willard’s mercurial behavior. Or it could indicate that they know he plans to move on once the Terrapins’ NCAA Tournament run ends.

While they know more about what’s going on behind the scenes than the general public or any journalist, it’s an incredibly risky strategy for Villanova to wait on Willard, as CBS Sports insider Jon Rothstein reported on March 26 that they plan to do. With Willard flitting back and forth between putting Maryland’s administration on blast, affirming his commitment to the program “as of right now” and then dodging questions on his future in a manner that would make Bill Belichick proud, neither the Wildcats nor their fans should feel confident about their chances of landing him until the ink on a contract is dry. Ditto for Maryland.

The Villanova search gives off plenty of smoke. At some point, the fire will appear.

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