The Villanova Wildcats are ready to move on with Maryland’s Kevin Willard as their new coach. Willard had been linked to the Villanova job throughout the NCAA Tournament, where the Terrapins earned a No.

Former Maryland men’s basketball coach Kevin Willard says “it’s time for everyone to move on” after him leaving for Villanova angered fans.

“All I’m going to say is that Maryland just got a great coach in Buzz [Williams],” Willard said at the same time Williams was being introduced at a live press conference on campus. “I’m really happy for them, and I’m super excited to be in a great basketball conference here [in the Big East]. And I just think it’s time that everyone moved on.”

One of the deciders in the process was none other than Jay Wright, Willard’s former adversary over a decade coaching at Seton Hall. After formal conversations with university President Rev. Peter Donohue and athletic director Eric Roedl, Willard fired up the old Big East phone tree Saturday night.

Every step of Kevin Willard’s journey to Villanova from Maryland should be instructive and sobering. It should strip away any remaining sentimentality about the world of college basketball and how Villanova’s leaders view the Wildcats’ place in it.

Willard, the former Seton Hall coach, was booed at his send-off ahead of the Florida Sweet 16 game as Maryland fans became increasingly irritated with his recent comments and the perception that he was dissing the school in the middle of the NCAA Tournament.

Jimmy's Famous Seafood in Baltimore is doing its best to boost Maryland's NIL support at the expense of its former basketball coach. The restaurant added

Freshman center Derik Queen, who made an incredible buzzer-beater to send the Terps to the Sweet Sixteen, reacted emotionally to Willard’s departure, posting a four-emoji response. Queen and Willard were believed to have had a close relationship, so the departure of his head coach may have hit him particularly hard.