With Kevin Willard’s departure to Villanova, Maryland needs a new men’s basketball coach. The Terps need to move quickly with the transfer portal already open as teams look to build for next season.

Here’s a look at a few names who could conceivably land the job:

Tony Skinn, George Mason coach: Skinn worked as an assistant under Willard at Maryland for the 2022-23 season and has had success the past two seasons at George Mason. The reigning Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year led the Patriots to 27 wins, a share of the Atlantic 10 regular-season title and the conference tournament championship game this past season, as well as a first-round victory in the NIT. He is 47-21 in his two seasons at George Mason, where he helped lead the team to the 2006 Final Four as a player. Skinn recently agreed to a one-year contract extension that ties him to the school through the 2029-30 season.

Duane Simpkins, American coach: A former point guard at DeMatha Catholic and Maryland, Simpkins just wrapped up his second season as American’s coach. The Eagles went 22-13 this past season, winning the Patriot League Tournament title and making the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014. Simpkins, 50, also has experience as a high school coach and college assistant at UNC Greensboro and George Mason.

Kim English, Providence coach: The Baltimore native and former Randallstown star went 34-29 in two seasons at George Mason — including an upset of Maryland in College Park — before heading to the Big East at Providence. After going 21-14 and reaching the NIT in his first season, the Friars struggled in 2024-25, dropping to 12-20. The 36-year-old also has experience as an assistant at Tulsa, Colorado and Tennessee under coach Rick Barnes.

Luke Murray, UConn assistant coach: Murray has coached under Dan Hurley for four seasons, including back-to-back national titles in 2023 and 2024. A former recruiting coordinator at Louisville and assistant at Towson, Murray has been ranked by ESPN as one of the top 10 coaches under 40 and by 247 Sports as one of the top five recruiters in the nation. He is a native of Palisades, New York, and a 2007 graduate of Fairfield University.

David Vanterpool, Washington Wizards assistant coach: Vanterpool, 51, played at Montgomery Blair High in Silver Spring before becoming a standout guard at St. Bonaventure and playing more than a decade as a professional, including with the Wizards in 2001. Although he’s never coached in college, he’s been working in the NBA since 2012, including stops with the Portland Trail Blazers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Brooklyn Nets.

Porter Moser, Oklahoma coach: Moser took the Sooners to the NCAA Tournament this year after falling just shy of the event in his first three years leading the program. Before Oklahoma, he had significant success at Loyola Chicago, leading the program to a pair of Sweet 16 appearances and a Final Four. His teams have reached 20 wins in six of the past eight seasons.

Maryland paid Willard more than $4 million this season, while Moser made just over $3 million at Oklahoma.

Andy Enfield, SMU coach: The 55-year-old Pennsylvania native played college basketball at Johns Hopkins and earned an MBA from the University of Maryland. He began his career as an NBA assistant before head coaching stops at Florida Gulf Coast, Southern California and now SMU. He led both Florida Gulf Coast and USC to NCAA Tournament appearances, and SMU won 24 games and made the NIT this year, Enfield’s first at the school.

Enfield has a 285-186 career record as a coach, giving him a winning percentage just over .600. Willard’s career winning percentage is .575.

Mark Byington, Vanderbilt coach: Byington’s Vanderbilt salary is undisclosed since the university is private, but it’s feasible to think that Maryland could offer Byington a better opportunity than his current gig. Maryland has a better basketball history than Vanderbilt, which has never made a Final Four appearance.

While Willard recently decried Maryland’s lack of resources, Vanderbilt often flounders behind its SEC peers in terms of spending and on-field results in football and men’s basketball.

Byington, 48, led the Commodores to the NCAA Tournament in his first year as the program’s coach, with the team losing to St. Mary’s in the first round. In his final year at James Madison University in 2023-24, the Dukes won 32 games and advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s second round after a win over Wisconsin. The Dukes also beat Michigan State that season.

Buzz Williams, Texas A&M coach: If Maryland is looking for a replacement with a robust recent track record of success, Williams looms as a possibility. He has guided the Aggies to three consecutive NCAA Tournaments despite falling in each of the SEC Tournaments before them. Williams took Virginia Tech to three straight NCAA postseasons from 2017 to 2019 and Marquette to five consecutive tournaments.

He owns a 373-228 overall record (.621 winning percentage) and was named the SEC Coach of the Year in 2020 and 2023. Williams, 52, is reportedly earning $4.6 million annually, so the Terps would have to make a compelling offer to convince him to leave College Station for College Park. Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman reported that Williams was “trying to get involved” with the search in the days before Willard officially left the Terps.

Mike Brey, former Notre Dame coach: Born in Bethesda and a graduate of DeMatha Catholic in Hyattsville, Brey has strong ties to the DMV and was considered a candidate to succeed Gary Williams in 2011 (before the university tabbed Mark Turgeon) and Turgeon in 2022 (before Willard was hired). Brey compiled a 99-51 record in five seasons at Delaware and a 483-280 mark in 22 years at Notre Dame with 19 seasons of 20-plus victories. He led the Fighting Irish to 13 NCAA Tournaments, including the Elite Eight in 2015 and 2016.

Currently an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks, the 66-year-old Brey would have to be willing to leave the creature comforts of working in the NBA and deal with the distractions of name, image and likeness revenue and the transfer portal.

Bob Huggins, former Cincinnati and West Virginia coach: Maryland’s defensive intensity under Willard likely wouldn’t change much if Huggins, a proponent of full-court presses and relentless defenses, was at the helm. A 2022 inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Huggins owns a 935-414 overall record and is one of six men’s college basketball coaches to reach the 900-win plateau. He owns two finishes in the Final Four (1992 with Cincinnati and 2010 with West Virginia), four Elite Eight showings and nine Sweet 16 appearances and guided teams to 24 NCAA Tournaments, including 23 in his last 26 seasons.

Huggins was recently a candidate for the vacancy at McNeese State after Will Wade left for North Carolina State, but the Cowboys went with Baylor assistant coach Bill Armstrong. Perhaps the biggest red flag is whether the 71-year-old Huggins has changed his ways after a second DUI arrest led to him and the Mountaineers parting ways and a history of offensive language toward the Catholic and gay communities.

John Thompson III, former Princeton and Georgetown coach: Like Brey, Thompson’s roots in the DMV run deep as he has remained in the area while serving as senior vice president of Monumental Basketball for the NBA’s Washington Wizards. A Washington native who played at Gonzaga College High School, he is the son of the late and legendary Georgetown coach John Thompson Jr., who amassed a 596-239 record and guided the Hoyas to the national championship in 1984. The younger Thompson did not enjoy as much success during his 14 seasons at Georgetown, going 278-151, but he took the school to the Final Four in 2007. Similarly to Brey, however, the 59-year-old Thompson III has been out of the college basketball landscape since 2017 and would need to dive into the current NIL era.

Have a news tip? Contact sports editor Bennett Conlin at bconlin@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/BennettConlin.