NEWNow you can listen to Pak Gazette articles!
Villanova men’s basketball head coach Kevin Willard’s in-game joke didn’t go as expected, but he didn’t apologize for it after the Wildcats’ loss to Utah State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Willard was interviewed by CBS Sports’ Lauren Shehadi during a timeout, and lashed out at his coaching staff as the Wildcats battled the Aggies.
“I’m going to fire my staff,” Willard said in a now-viral moment. “Because we’ve given up eight points on inferior defense, out of bounds. All I’m going to do is fire them and get a new staff.”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON PakGazette.Com
Head coach Kevin Willard of the Villanova Wildcats during the Big East men’s tournament quarterfinals against the Georgetown Hoyas at Madison Square Garden on March 12, 2026 in New York City. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
Willard may have been joking, but his deadpan expression made others think he was serious at the time.
After the 86-76 loss at the end of the season, Willard attended a postgame interview where he was asked about his comments about his staff during the game.
Again, he may have been joking, but he doubled down.
VILLANOVA COACH TURNS ATTENTION AFTER ‘JOKE’ THAT HE ‘FIRED MY STAFF’ DURING MARCH MADNESS LOSS
“We missed a big 3-pointer late,” Willard told the group of reporters, according to CBS Sports. “I’ll probably have to make some changes to my staff because of how bad we were.”
While fielding another question about his staff, Willard chimed in again.
“It’s a joke,” he said. “God bless him… I don’t care. Welcome to my life. It’s a joke.”
Head coach Kevin Willard of the Villanova Wildcats gestures during the NCAA Tournament game against the Utah State Aggies at San Diego State University on March 20, 2026, in California. (Orlando RamÃrez/Getty Images)
Willard was not satisfied with his team’s performance in any way. While infield plays were an issue, the Wildcats also blew a 10-point lead in the second half, which he attributed to the Aggies’ relentless pressure.
“You know, we went up by 10 and then we gave up three offensive rebounds. You have to give them credit. They’re a veteran team, older point guards. They did a great job coming in late, but we had our opportunities,” he said. “Then we were up 73-71 and we missed two layups that really hurt us. You have to give them credit. They capitalized on it.”
Utah State head coach Jerrod Calhoun noted, “We didn’t like our seed,” after his No. 10 team defeated No. 7 Villanova. But they will have to prove it with another upset against top-seeded Arizona on Sunday at 7:50 pm ET.
“We won 28 games. We won the regular season title, we won the tournament title,” Calhoun said, according to CBS Sports. “So when this team has an advantage and plays with a little swagger and a little toughness and toughness, we can cause a lot of problems.”
Villanova Wildcats head coach Kevin Willard at a news conference before the first round of the 2026 NCAA men’s tournament at Viejas Arena. (Kirby Lee/Image Images)
Willard was head coach of the Maryland Terrapins last season, where he was able to lead his team to the second round of the NCAA Tournament thanks to a game-winning basket by Derik Queen to beat Colorado State.
