Kevin Willard

Kevin Willard (born April 6, 1975) is an American college basketball coach and the current head men's basketball coach at Seton Hall University.

Kevin Willard

Willard (middle) as an assistant coach with the Louisville Cardinals under Pitino.
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	Seton Hall
Conference	Big East
Record	201–145 (.581)
Biographical details
Born	April 6, 1975 Huntington, New York
Playing career
1992–1993	Western Kentucky
1994–1997	Pittsburgh
Position(s)	Point guard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1997–2001	Boston Celtics (assistant)
2001–2007	Louisville (assistant)
2007–2010	Iona
2010–present	Seton Hall
Head coaching record
Overall	245–194 (.112)
Tournaments	1–4 (NCAA) 1–1 (NIT)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Big East Tournament (2016) Big East regular season (2020)
Awards
Big East co-Coach of the Year (2016) MAAC Coach of the Year (2010)

Willard played basketball at Western Kentucky during the 1992–93 season (his freshman year) before transferring to Pittsburgh to finish his playing career.

Willard started his coaching career in the NBA ranks, working on the bench with coach Rick Pitino of the Boston Celtics. After Pitino resigned from the Celtics in 2001, Willard followed him to Louisville, and spent the next six years there as his assistant.

He is the former coach of Iona College, where he took over the reins after Jeff Ruland was fired after going 2–28 in 2007. Willard came to Iona after spending ten years as an assistant under Rick Pitino.[1] In his third season with Iona, Willard led the Gaels to the 14th 20-win season in program history. It was a nine-win improvement from his first two seasons in New Rochelle. After inheriting a program that was 10th to last in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), the Gaels improved to a Top 80 RPI in 2009–10, the highest turnaround over the time span in NCAA Division I. After completing the turnaround, on March 28, 2010 Willard accepted the head coaching position at Seton Hall University, a school that competes in the Big East Conference. He led the Pirates to the 2016 Big East Championship. On March 14, 2019, he became the first Pirates head coach to lead the team to four straight 20 win seasons.[2] He has already ascended to third on Seton Hall's all-time wins list, behind Honey Russell and P. J. Carlesimo.

Willard's father, Ralph Willard, was the associate head coach at Louisville and a former head men's basketball coach at Holy Cross, Pittsburgh and Western Kentucky.

Head coaching record

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Iona Gaels (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) (2007–2010)
2007–08	Iona	12–20	8–10	7th
2008–09	Iona	12–19	7–11	7th
2009–10	Iona	21–10	12–6	3rd
Iona:		45–49 (.479)	27–27 (.500)
Seton Hall Pirates (Big East Conference) (2010–present)
2010–11	Seton Hall	13–17	7–11	12th
2011–12	Seton Hall	21–13	8–10	10th	NIT Second Round
2012–13	Seton Hall	15–18	3–15	13th
2013–14	Seton Hall	17–17	6–12	8th
2014–15	Seton Hall	16–15	6–12	T–7th
2015–16	Seton Hall	25–9	12–6	3rd	NCAA Round of 64
2016–17	Seton Hall	21–12	10–8	T–3rd	NCAA Round of 64
2017–18	Seton Hall	22–12	10–8	T–3rd	NCAA Round of 32
2018–19	Seton Hall	20–14	9–9	T–3rd	NCAA Round of 64
2019–20	Seton Hall	21–9	13–5	T-1st	NCAA Canceled
2020–21	Seton Hall	11–8	8–5
Seton Hall:		201–145 (.581)	92-99 (.482)
Total:		245-194 (.558)
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

References

1. "Willard takes over for Ruland at Iona". ESPN.com. April 10, 2007. Retrieved July 6, 2007.
2. "Reports: Seton Hall to hire Willard". ESPN.com. March 28, 2010. Retrieved March 28, 2010.

External links

• Iona Gaels bio