Discussions of coaches’ contracts and potential moves often come up during the NCAA Tournament. And coaches don’t always appreciate that. The latest example of some pushback on a question along those lines came from Maryland head coach Kevin Willard following the Terrapins’ 81-49 first-round win over Grand Canyon Friday. There, Willard was asked about “The situation with Damon,” in reference to athletic director Damon Evans (who had been negotiating a new contract with Willard) leaving for SMU:
Kevin Willard: “the only situation is you guys and Twitter” 😂 pic.twitter.com/enU6WIKyv2
— Inside the Black & Gold (@Insideblackgold) March 22, 2025
The question there is “With the situation with Damon, how much did you have to black out that distraction?” Willard responds “There’s no situation. The only situation is you guys and Twitter. And I can’t control you guys, and I can’t control Twitter.”
Willard then says he’s informed his players of everything going on with him, which included being presented a term sheet for a new contract Thursday, not signing it over uncertainty about the athletic director role, and also being linked in media reports to the Villanova job.
“I’ve talked to these guys, I’ve been open with them, they know exactly what’s going on.”
But he goes from there into complaints about the media.
“I can’t control you guys. Whatever I say, you’re going to write whatever you want to say anyway. That’s why this is a waste of my time. I mean, we have a website that might as well be TMZ. So I can’t do anything about it: I can’t do anything about Twitter, I can’t do anything about what’s going on. I can handle what I can handle.
“We are focused, I’m excited to be here, I’m excited to be with these guys. There’s nothing else to talk about. You guys just write whatever the hell you want to write. I don’t give a s**t.”
(After the clip, Willard followed that up with “I’ll probably get a letter from the NCAA on that one.”)
It’s understandable why Willard might not want to discuss the off-field situation. But the “there is no situation” is an interesting way to do so, especially after Willard brought a lot of this up publicly in a pre-tournament press conference Thursday. There, he spoke about how Evans was likely leaving, and also blasted program administration decisions and lobbied for more resources:
“He’s probably going to SMU. So it’s kind of tough to negotiate with somebody that’s maybe not here, but I need to make fundamental changes to the program. That’s what I’m focused on right now. That’s why, probably, a deal hasn’t got done.
…”We’ve been one of the worse, if not lowest, in the NIL in the last two years,” Willard said.
…Willard, who was previously the head coach at Seton Hall, pointed to the athletic department shooting down his request to have his team stay an extra night in New York City around a game in December.
“I have to make a fundamental change where I can do the things that I want to do with my program. I wanted to spend an extra night in New York this year to celebrate Christmas with my team and I was told that we can’t do that because it’s too expensive,” Willard said. “So I don’t know how we can be a top-tier program and I can’t spend one extra night in New York because it’s too expensive.”
While things could always change around the appointment of a new athletic director, and around what exactly Willard wants, he does seem to be in good shape to stay at Maryland if he wants following this impressive opening-round victory. And this press conference doesn’t seem to have hurt his cause. Following his “write whatever the hell you want to write” push, Willard received headlines like “Kevin Willard played his hand, and it looks like a winning one” (for a column from The Washington Post‘s Jerry Brewer after this press conference) and “Kevin Willard’s power play becomes more potent with each Terps win” (for a column from Childs Walker of The Baltimore Sun, also after this presser).
Beyond that, the reports around Willard and Villanova (potentially even referenced by McNeese State’s Will Wade in a “Villanova is looking to hire a coach out of the NCAA Tournament right now” line Thursday) could strengthen his bargaining position further. They might also give him an exit if talks at Maryland don’t work out. (Senior deputy athletic director Colleen Sorum has been named interim AD, but there’s discussion she might also leave, and it’s unclear what way the Terrapins are looking to go with a full-time hire.) So he seems to be in a pretty good situation.
But Willard’s response to this particular question and his criticisms of the media deserve some discussion. The reporter here asked something quite fair: there obviously was an off-court situation with Evans leaving (which was confirmed during this game). Willard contributed to that with his discussion of not signing a new deal and his issues with Evans and the athletic department in his presser Thursday.
And the question here was about blocking out that situation to focus on the on-court. That’s quite a fair way into this conversation. Willard’s “There is no situation” doesn’t seem right, considering that he previously discussed this even before Evans actually left. (Yes, in prompting to questions, but he could have no-commented, as many coaches often do around contract negotiations.)
The candor from Willard on his relationship with Evans and the athletic department Thursday was appreciated. And it fits with other surprising candor we’ve seen around off-field talks, such as Wade being open about how he’s looking to go to a Power 5 school after this run and how he’s talked about that with his players and wants to bring some of them. But lines like “The only situation is you guys and Twitter” don’t hold up to scrutiny, especially given Willard’s own role in making this situation public.
Willard’s quite right that he can only control what he can control, and that doesn’t include the media. The comments he made about being open with his players also are positive. And not everyone at this presser took it as a real attack on media, with Brewer writing “The words may read like a scolding. It came across more like a comedy routine.” But Willard certainly did express some criticisms of media here for asking about this “situation,” and they’re not particularly fair considering that there is indeed a situation, and Willard helped create it.
