Villanova Men’s Basketball Introduces New Coaching Staff

Villanova Men’s Basketball overhauled their coaching staff with the arrival of new head coach Kevin Willard, leading to the departure of a series of program mainstays like Mike Nardi; on Friday, May 2, they made those changes official, introducing their new coaches and their roles with the team.

New assistant head coaches include David Cox, Greg Manning, Kevin Norris and Ricky Harris. The Wildcats retained Ashley Howard, a seven year veteran of the Wildcats’ staff across two separate stints, the lone Villanova assistant who stayed on from the Kyle Neptune era.

Villanova announced the addition of Director of Player Personnel Brenton Petty and Director of Basketball Operations Charlie Butler.

A 2018 graduate of Fordham University who played college basketball for the Rams, Petty spent a season with the Detroit Pistons, helping to manage travel logistics and serving in the scouting department. He then served with the Maryland Terrapins from 2021 to 2025, spending three of those four seasons under Willard, taking a hand in player development, scouting and recruiting.

Butler knows Willard from stints at Seton Hall and Maryland, working in the film room with the Pirates and serving as Director of Basketball Operations, his current role with Villanova, while with the Terrapins.

Coaching Resumes

Cox joined the Terrapins after they hired Willard in March 2022, receiving a promotion to associate head coach at the conclusion of the following season. He possesses deep ties to the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, a basketball hotbed commonly known as the DMV, which could help the Wildcats get a leg up in recruiting. Cox also served as a head coach at Rhode Island and as a director of basketball operations with Pittsburgh, giving him a wealth of experience in multiple aspects of the sport.

Manning spent time as a video coordinator and director of operations with the Terrapins, beginning his Maryland tenure in 2018. Upon joining the Terrapins himself, Willard retained Manning from the previous regime and later promoted him to an assistant coaching role, a testament to his ability.

Harris played basketball at the collegiate and professional levels, a guard who spent four seasons at UMass Amherst — starting three of those years — and averaging 15.2 points. He then jumped across the pond, spending 11 professional seasons in European leagues that included Germany, Lithuania and Ukraine, as well as in Turkey and Argentina.

Following the conclusion of his playing career, Harris returned to Amherst, spending two years as the Minutemen’s Director of Operations before spending two seasons under Willard at Maryland as the Director of Player Personnel/Assistant Coach.