Maryland zeroing in on Kevin Willard

[Huskymagic]

Maryland is stupid to hire Kevin Willard and pay him 5 years 22 million. That's $4.4 million a year. That's a huge amount of money for someone like Willard. Good for him, but terrible for Maryland and their fans.

He's a decent coach, but mediocre. He's not exactly an upgrade to Mark Turgeon, he's a slightly worse version of Turgeon.

Maryland is a very good job. They probably should have targeted our guy Pikiell to see if he wanted to move first or look at other options at other P5s and mid majors.

 

[navery12]

Maryland is stupid to hire Kevin Willard and pay him 5 years 22 million. That's $4.4 million a year. That's a huge amount of money for someone like Willard. Good for him, but terrible for Maryland and their fans.

He's a decent coach, but mediocre. He's not exactly an upgrade to Mark Turgeon, he's a slightly worse version of Turgeon.

Maryland is a very good job. They probably should have targeted our guy Pikiell to see if he wanted to move first or look at other options at other P5s and mid majors.

And the worst part is he spent so much time at Seton Hall he'll probably want to target PGs from New Jersey

 

[Tyler2Rings]

Small step up for Willard. Certainly a step up in pay.

IDK for Maryland, seems like a wash compared to Turgeon

Seton Hall might be the biggest winner if they get Holloway

 

[huskymedic]

Maryland is stupid to hire Kevin Willard and pay him 5 years 22 million. That's $4.4 million a year. That's a huge amount of money for someone like Willard. Good for him, but terrible for Maryland and their fans.

Updated numbers:

 

[JMick]

Updated numbers:

7 years for Willard is insane.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I don't know any Maryland fans, but I have to wonder what their reaction to paying a guy $30M who Seton Hall fans think may have maxed out at their program by making the tourney consistently but losing in the first round.

Isn't that what they fired Turegeon for?

 

[Huskymagic]

Updated numbers:

Maryland really likes to throw money down the drain. If they were going to target an experienced coach at a high major level, they should have gone with Pikiell as a target or Ed Cooley first before going down the list to Kevin Willard.

Both have much better chance to take Maryland farther in the NCAA tournament.

 

[JMick]

I don't know any Maryland fans, but I have to wonder what their reaction to paying a guy $30M who Seton Hall fans think may have maxed out at their program by making the tourney consistently but losing in the first round.

Isn't that what they fired Turegeon for?

To be fair, I thought the same thing with Cronin going to UCLA. But it still seems nuts. And Cronin was a better coach and had better teams than Willard.

It's definitely not an inspiring hire though.

 

[nomar]

Is there any chance they call Hurley?

Has his stock fallen that far that they’d call Holloway first?

You serious dude?

 

[Palatine]

Maryland is stupid to hire Kevin Willard and pay him 5 years 22 million. That's $4.4 million a year. That's a huge amount of money for someone like Willard.

That's chicken change for B10 teams.

 

[nomar]

So, so many coaches.

Haha, literally hundreds.

 

[Huskymagic]

I don't know any Maryland fans, but I have to wonder what their reaction to paying a guy $30M who Seton Hall fans think may have maxed out at their program by making the tourney consistently but losing in the first round.

Isn't that what they fired Turegeon for?

Our big problem is that Dan Hurley looks to be equal as a coach in results, ability, and performance to Kevin Willard and Mark Turgeon.
Those are his peers. Not the worst thing in the world, but not what we are looking for at UCONN. We don't need Hurley to have a 10 year tenure of Turgeon's performances at UCONN or Willard's performances at the Hall.

PS: We need to keep an eye on Pikiell to see if he has any interest returning to UCONN as head coach in the future. It will be tough because he's paid well at Rutgers, and has momentum there.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

Sooo is it just me or did Willard take a step sideways at best?

Maryland hasn't been relevant to anyone born post year 2000. He also is jumping into a conference that has been on the downtrend the past 2-3 years. Can't get over how he didn't entertain other schools. But hey, money talks.

No. Maryland is not a step sideways from Seton Hall.

He's going to be making $4 mil a year and coaching in the Big 10.
Maryland is a much bigger school with a much larger athletic budget.

Seton Hall was irrelevant before Willard took over. He made them pretty respectable for a decade. I imagine he can do better at a place like Maryland. We'll see though.

 

[awfuldan]

To be fair, I thought the same thing with Cronin going to UCLA. But it still seems nuts. And Cronin was a better coach and had better teams than Willard.

It's definitely not an inspiring hire though.

Yeah, I was thinking of Cronin as a comp too. That's been a clear success for them. The F4 run last year seemed pretty flukey, but they are back in the second weekend again this year after being Top 25 all season.

For comparison, Cronin got 6 years/$24 million, so Maryland went an extra year and some additional money for a less accomplished coach.

 

[JMick]

Our big problem is that Dan Hurley looks to be equal as a coach in results, ability, and performance to Kevin Willard and Mark Turgeon.
Those are his peers. Not the worst thing in the world, but not what we are looking for at UCONN. We don't need Hurley to have a 10 year tenure of Turgeon's performances at UCONN or Willard's performances at the Hall.

PS: We need to keep an eye on Pikiell to see if he has any interest returning to UCONN as head coach in the future. It will be tough because he's paid well at Rutgers, and has momentum there.

I think the fear is that Hurley is just Willard or Turgeon but it's not fair to make that definitive of a statement yet. Willard was at Seton Hall for 12 years and Turgeon was at Maryland for 11. Hurley is getting at least 2, probably 3 more years. What we don't want to do is give him another extension unless things progress.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I think the fear is that Hurley is just Willard or Turgeon but it's not fair to make that definitive of a statement yet. Willard was at Seton Hall for 12 years and Turgeon was at Maryland for 11. Hurley is getting at least 2, probably 3 more years. What we don't want to do is give him another extension unless things progress.

Was just about to post the same thing. Hurley already had more tourney wins at URI than Willard had in 12 years at SH. Jury is still far from out on Hurley.

Good point on Cronin too and the similar suspected reactions by the fanbases. Both guys had very similar profiles at Cincinnati and the Hall. Think a lot of it could ultimately just be luck of the draw with the tourney results for Cronin but can't argue with results.

 

[djct1999]

 

[freescooter]

Yeah, I was thinking of Cronin as a comp too. That's been a clear success for them. The F4 run last year seemed pretty flukey, but they are back in the second weekend again this year after being Top 25 all season.

For comparison, Cronin got 6 years/$24 million, so Maryland went an extra year and some additional money for a less accomplished coach.

Willard is not even close to Mick Cronin. For one thing, Mick has won 11 NCAA games. Willard 1. Cronin had a 668 winning percentage. Willard is .582. Cronin brought teams to 5he NCAA Tournament 11 straight years. Cronin is a very good coach. Willard is decent.

 

[August_West]

Willard getting out of a mid major league by any means necessary.

Add him to the long list of little east coaches who have left for power conferences.

Mick got by round of 32 again. Me thinks maybe it wasn’t him that limited the bearcats. The bearcats limited mick!

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

It's official

DrEaM jOb

 

[kobe]

Mick got by round of 32 again. Me thinks maybe it wasn’t him that limited the bearcats. The bearcats limited mick!

it’s hard to advance from a mid-major league! It’s why I give tremendous credit to Jay Wright, Mark Few and Kelvin Sampson.

Those guys have built strong programs in weak conferences!

 

[BGesus4]

it’s hard to advance from a mid-major league! It’s why I give tremendous credit to Jay Wright, Mark Few and Kelvin Sampson.

Those guys have built strong programs in weak conferences!

Oh @kobe , you’re a good sport for coming over here to be our court jester during this unfortunately boring week

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I get Willard wanting to go to another school. I actually brought this up in the Hot Seat thread a month ago. I get Maryland wanting Willard. While Willard has been dismal in the NCAA, I do think he is a decent coach, although probably a step down from Turgeon.

I get Seton Hall not putting up a fight to keep Willard. SHU could use new blood and it feels like it is time for a change.

The part I don’t get is why Maryland paid $4 million a year for a coach no one else wanted. They could have gotten him for much less.

 

[the Q]

I get Willard wanting to go to another school. I actually brought this up in the Hot Seat thread a month ago. I get Maryland wanting Willard. While Willard has been dismal in the NCAA, I do think he is a decent coach, although probably a step down from Turgeon.

I get Seton Hall not putting up a fight to keep Willard. SHU could use new blood and it feels like it is time for a change.

The part I don’t get is why Maryland paid $4 million a year for a coach no one else wanted. They could have gotten him for much less.

I thought the Maryland job might in more demand.

It’s a pretty good gig that will likely only look better after Izzo retires

 

[the Q]

You serious dude?

Try it not being reactive and emotional

Dude is an alum

From the area with family there with all kinds of contacts

Minimal buyout for a d1 hc

There’s zero smoke they’ve even asked, that’s the point. Not even if he’s interested or not, ASKED

This is like if tech didn’t ask about Chris beard, you would’ve wondered what was up.