MM 3.17: No. 11 Maryland men’s basketball, Kevin Willard reportedly working on new contract

This is a Maryland Minute, a short story followed by a roundup of Terps-related news.

No. 11 Maryland men’s basketball and head coach Kevin Willard are working on a new contract that would make him one of college basketball’s 10 highest-paid coaches and include a heavily-increased revenue share budget, CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein reported Sunday.

Willard has led the Terps to a 25-8 record, the No. 11 spot in the final Associated Press top-25 poll and a No. 4 seed in March Madness this season, all the best marks of his three-year tenure. He has the best record of any head coach across their first three seasons in program history, and is overwhelmingly credited with helping shape the roster that’s led the Terps this far in 2024-25.

Rothstein’s report comes less than a day after rumors started to swirl about a connection between Willard and Villanova, who fired head coach Kyle Neptune Saturday. No deal between Willard and Maryland appears to be finalized.

“Damon Evans (Maryland’s athletics director) and I, he hired, we’re on the same page of what we want to do for this program, what we want to do for this university,” Willard said when asked about the rumors. “His focus and my focus are exactly the same, so our focus right now is strictly the NCAA Tournament and this team. But all I can saw to that is me and Damon are on the same page and always have been.”

In other news

Maryland men’s basketball received the No. 4 seed in March Madness’ west region, and will take on No. 13-seed Grand Canyon in Seattle Friday. Colin McNamara had the story.

Maryland women’s basketball also earned a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and will host No. 13-seed Norfolk State in College Park Saturday. Ben Messinger had the story.

Maryland men’s basketball’s Big Ten Tournament run came to a disappointing end in the semifinals, losing to No. 3-seed Michigan on a last-second shot by Tre Donaldson. Ryan Alonardo recapped the game and Colin McNamara provided his takeaways.

Colin McNamara had the story on Maryland men’s basketball’s win over No. 7-seed Illinois in the third round of the Big Ten Tournament, and Ryan Alonardo gave his takeaways.

Maryland baseball outdueled USF, 5-2, on Friday before dropping the final two games of their weekend set, 4-3 on Saturday and 15-8 on Sunday. Ben Messinger covered the win and Christian Andriolas recapped the Saturday and Sunday losses.

No. 1 Maryland men’s lacrosse picked up the 900th win in program history over longtime rival No. 18 Virginia, 12-6, in Charlottesville Saturday. Nolan Rogalski had the coverage.

Dylan Schmidt recapped No. 5 Maryland women’s lacrosse’s 14-12 win in a back-and-forth battle with No. 12 Michigan Sunday.

Maryland softball won two of three games over Rutgers over the weekend, losing Friday, 5-1, before bouncing back with 4-1 and 11-7 victories Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Maryland gymnastics celebrated Senior Night at the Maryland Quad in College Park Sunday, and came out on top over Towson, Yale and George Washington with a 196.175 total score.

Maryland tennis fell to Purdue, 4-2, in West Lafayette Sunday.

Former Maryland baseball pitcher Sean Burke will start on Opening Day for the Chicago White Sox, in just his fourth career start.