ESPN host Scott Van Pelt did not hold back regarding Kevin Willard’s decision to leave Maryland for Villanova.
Van Pelt, a Maryland alumnus and avowed fan of the school’s athletic programs, blasted Willard for the way the coach went about his Maryland departure. Specifically, Van Pelt was unhappy that Willard made public and vocal demands of the school for more resources, even though Willard had seemingly already made up his mind to leave no matter what.
“Of course Kevin Willard can go to Villanova. Of course you can go back to your Big East roots,” Van Pelt said on “The SVPod.” “Of course, if it’s better for your family. We’re savages, but we’re not soulless savages. If it’s better for your family, of course. But maybe you don’t take a giant s–t on the front steps of the house you’ve lived in for the last three years. You don’t do damage to the university and program where you’ve been for three years.
“And you don’t take the efforts of the people behind the scenes who poured their hearts and souls into this for free, for you, to try to fill in the gaps, and tell them ‘Nah, I love this university, and I just want it to be great, and I’m anal, and I’m an a-hole, and I just want this program to be the best it can be.’ Maybe you don’t tell those people that to their face repeatedly when everyone in the industry is saying to me, ‘Scott, why are you guys wasting your time? This is done. Everybody in the business knows it. He’s gone.'”
Van Pelt added that Willard had been an integral part of Maryland’s great season, but criticized the coach for letting the year get “sabotaged and hijacked by a two-week-long storyline that wouldn’t go away.”
On Kevin Willard leaving Maryland for Villanova: pic.twitter.com/2t1dbrQQSf
— SVPod (@_SVPod) April 1, 2025
Van Pelt’s comments echo those of a lot of Maryland fans right now. Willard was putting Maryland’s program on blast while the team was still in the NCAA Tournament, and many were convinced he had already made up his mind to go to Villanova after the Terrapins’ NCAA Tournament exit. That wound up being true, as his hire was reported just over 48 hours later.
The good news for Van Pelt and other Maryland fans is that the school was able to quickly bring in an established coach to replace Willard. The former coach, however, probably will not be welcome around College Park again anytime soon.
