University of Maryland administrators have told at least one prominent booster for the men’s basketball program that Kevin Willard plans to leave for Villanova, but that Maryland is making a “last-ditch effort” to retain the coach, a source with direct knowledge of the situation told The Baltimore Sun.

After Willard’s team was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament on Thursday with an 87-71 loss to No. 1 seed Florida in the Sweet 16, the coach told reporters in San Francisco, “I don’t know what I’m doing” in response to a question about his future with the program.

“I haven’t talked to anybody,” Willard said Thursday night. “I have an agent, I’m sure he’s talking to people — that’s what agents like to do. But, you know, I don’t know.”

Maryland recently offered Willard a new contract that met his demands for increased resources for the program, the source said, but Willard did not accept the deal.

“They agreed to everything he wants,” the source said.

In a statement to The Baltimore Sun on early Friday morning, a university spokesperson said: “Our focus remains on keeping Coach Willard at the University of Maryland.”

Willard has been linked to the Villanova job opening over the past two weeks, and rumors intensified in recent days when former athletic director Damon Evans left for the same role at Southern Methodist University and the coach publicly aired grievances about the men’s basketball program’s lack of funding. Villanova, which has won two national championships over the past decade, parted ways with coach Kyle Neptune after the season ended.On Tuesday, Willard said in a radio interview, “as of right now, I’m staying.” He added he’d been in communication with deputy athletic director and chief strategy officer Brian Ullmann to discuss a new contract with Evans gone and Colleen Sorem as interim athletic director.

“I want to make this program the best,” Willard said Tuesday. “And I think when you have an opportunity to do it, you have to take advantage of the opportunity.”

Then, on Wednesday, a day before Maryland took the court for its first Sweet 16 game in a decade, Willard dodged questions about his future with the Terps, a stark contrast to his comments a week earlier. Asked why he felt it necessary to make funding shortcomings public, the coach answered by explaining the challenges in stopping Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr.

Maryland fell to the Gators by 16 on Thursday. After the loss, Willard told reporters he has “no idea” if Villanova has offered him the job, deferring those questions to his agent.

Willard also lamented the fact he doesn’t know who his boss is going to be after Evans departed last week for SMU, which he said complicates his decision.

“When you’re at this point in your career, you have to take everything into consideration,” Willard said Thursday. “I love College Park. I love Maryland. But this is going to be a family decision.”

Sophomore guard Rodney Rice said after the loss Thursday that Willard addressed his future with the players.

“He said he was staying,” Rice said. “He’s fighting for some changes, and that’s that.”

Willard has made two trips to the NCAA Tournament in three seasons with the Terps after being hired from Seton Hall in 2022, this year as a No. 4 seed, the program’s highest since 2015. He has a 65-39 record with Maryland, stabilizing a program that was left in flux by the midseason departure of Mark Turgeon nine games into the 2021-22 season.

Despite that success, Willard was unhappy with the program’s financial commitments. Spending had increased in some areas, however. Maryland is expected to open a new $52 million basketball practice facility before next season. Still, Willard wanted more.

“I need to see fundamental changes done,” Willard said one day before the Terps’ opening round win over Grand Canyon. “I want this program to be great. I want it to be the best in the country. I want to win a national championship, but there’s things that need to change.”

Joining Villanova would be a return to the Big East Conference for Willard, a New York native who spent the first 15 seasons of his career coaching in the northeast.

Villanova’s football program competes in the Football Championship Subdivision, making men’s basketball the top priority at the school. Meanwhile, Maryland spent $30 million on football annually as of 2022.

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