The Big East’s obituary has been written multiple times over the years. ESPN, after attempting to hammer an ice pick through the conference’s neck, pronounced it dead with a documentary containing the word “Requiem.”
After the self-acclaimed Worldwide Leader tossed dirt on the casket, the Big East rose like Lazarus and won four national titles in men’s basketball.
The latest predictions of its demise come at a time when the eruption of free agency in college sports has enabled basketball programs at schools flush with power-football cash to hoard top players as never before. This March, all 16 teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament's second weekend came from football conferences. No Big East squads, no mid-majors.
Into this headwind plows Kevin Willard, who has abandoned Maryland for Villanova after his third season in College Park resulted in a second-place Big Ten finish and Sweet 16 run.
Since the Big East downsized in 2013, Willard is the first coach to make this kind of move in a fully voluntary fashion. The flow chart over that time is consistent.
Five head coaches left the Big East for jobs with power-football schools:
∎ Buzz Williams left Marquette for Virginia Tech
∎ Chris Mack left Xavier for Louisville
∎ Kevin Willard left Seton Hall for Maryland
∎ Sean Miller left Xavier for Texas
∎ Chris Holtmann left Butler for Ohio State
Meanwhile, four current Big East head coaches were fired or departed under embattled circumstances from the football-conference school that previously employed them:
∎ Chris Holtmann got fired at Ohio State, ended up at DePaul.
∎ Thad Matta got fired at Ohio State, resurfaced at Butler.
∎ Richard Pitino, once fired from Minnesota, rehabbed his reputation at Minnesota before landing at Xavier.
∎ Shaka Smart, embattled as his program at Texas stagnated, escaped to Marquette
That’s not counting at Rick Pitino, who was fired from Louisville for conduct reasons – he was still winning big there – and eventually circled back to his Big East roots with St. John’s.
So what is Willard doing? He’s not exactly known as a rolling stone – he stayed at Seton Hall for 12 years, notably passing up a chance to coach in the ACC with Virginia Tech in 2019.
Chances are, some personal reasons to come into play. His family was happily rooted in the northeast for 15 years, and maybe the move to the mid-Atlantic didn’t take all that well. After Maryland’s loss to Florida in Thursday’s West Regional semifinals, he emphasized a “family decision” would inform his next move.
Beyond that, Willard made it clear that he questioned Maryland’s commitment to funding basketball at the highest level as football and hoops programs throughout high-major world engage in a tug-of-war over revenue sharing.
Schools soon will be allowed to share up to $20.5 million in revenue with athletes. Internal athletic department fights over how that pie gets split between football and men’s basketball (and in in some cases, women’s ...
