6 potential candidates to replace head coach Kyle Neptune at Villanova

Villanova basketball is heading in a new direction after the decision to fire Kyle Neptune after three seasons as head coach. The Wildcats had historic relevance under predecessor Jay Wright before his retirement and Neptune simply failed to live up to expectations these last three years.

A native of Brooklyn, Neptune played collegiately at Lehigh before catching on at Villanova on Wright’s staff. He initially was the team’s video coordinator and later returned as an assistant for many years, sandwiching a brief stint on staff at Niagara. During his time with the Wildcats, Neptune aided in the program’s most prosperous era, including those national championships in 2016 and 2018. He would leave town in 2021 to become the new head coach at Fordham and made decent strides in his first year with the Rams.

After Wright announced his retirement, Neptune was brought back to Villanova as the program’s new head coach. Though he had just that single season of head coaching experience, Neptune was paramount as an assistant in those recent years, but that experience didn’t pay off. He didn’t lead Villanova to the NCAA Tournament in any of his three seasons, finishing in the middle of the pack in the Big East in each of those years.

The Wildcats aren’t waiting any longer, making a move that opens a very intriguing coaching position. This program was truly one of the nation’s best and is just three years removed from a trip to the Final Four. With the right coach and the right NIL support in place, the Wildcats can be a power in the Big East once again. We’ll look through a few names that should rise to the top in this coaching search.

Chris Collins

Whether or not he’d leave Chicago, Collins will certainly be mentioned as an intriguing name for Villanova. The former Duke guard and longtime Blue Devil assistant has built the basketball history at Northwestern since 2013, taking those Wildcats to every NCAA Tournament in the program’s history. He does have brief experience as an assistant at Seton Hall and has shown that he can win at tough programs in tough leagues; imagine him with the resources available at Villanova.

Mitch Henderson

While this would be more of an outside the box hire, Henderson is a worthy option based on his own head coaching success. The Indiana native is a former Princeton player who’s done brilliant work as head coach of his alma mater since 2011. Most notably Henderson led the Tigers to the Sweet Sixteen just two seasons ago and has won three of the last four regular season crowns in the Ivy League. It’s quite a jump from the Ivy League to the Big East and his experience is limited, but he’s a winner who’s built success where recruiting and program-building is much more difficult.

Matt Langel

Nearly thirty years ago Langel was a player at Penn under Fran Dunphy before becoming his assistant both with the Quakers and at Temple. He knows plenty about basketball in Philadelphia and with the Big 5, but Langel’s head coaching career is where he’s really shined. He took the Colgate job in 2011, and while coaching in the Patriot League isn’t exactly glamorous he did lead the Raiders to five straight NCAA Tournaments, though they will not return for a sixth this season. Regardless, Langel built that program from nothing into dominance and will get a shot somewhere someday at a bigger stage.

Ryan Odom

Odom is another favorite not only for this opening but for a couple of the other power conference jobs as well. He has a plethora of coaching experience, including power conference experience as an assistant at Virginia Tech. He gained national note by leading 16-seed UMBC to that historic upset in 2018 and has since built success in two-year stints at Utah State and VCU. Odom is a name on the rise and could fit well with the Wildcats and their resources, unless a program like Virginia grabs him first.

Richard Pitino

While he faltered in his first chance at the power conference level, Pitino is doing some of his best coaching work in recent years. A former Providence grad and Louisville assistant, he’s no stranger to the Big East, especially with his father winning the conference at St. John’s this year. The younger Pitino’s head coaching career included great work at FIU before stalling with Minnesota, but these last few years at New Mexico have been really great. Pitino could fit a lot of what Villanova is looking for, and he’s a more natural fit in the northeast.

Kevin Willard

It’s hard to ignore a viable candidate with recent success coaching in the Big East. Willard is another former Rick Pitino disciple, coaching under him with the Boston Celtics and at Louisville, who’s made a name for himself as a head coach. Willard did steady work at Iona before a prosperous 12-year run in the Big East at Seton Hall. Willard led the Pirates to five NCAA Tournaments during Villanova’s dominant run and has built a pretty strong team since arriving at Maryland in 2022. Could the Wildcats actually lure him back to the Big East?