Villanova coach Kevin Willard clarifies viral ‘fire my staff’ joke

Villanova men’s basketball head coach Kevin Willard’s joke didn’t pan out the way he hoped, but he made no apologies after the Wildcats lost to Utah State in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Willard was interviewed by CBS Sports’ Lauren Shehadi during a timeout, and he tore apart his coaching staff as the Wildcats struggled against the Aggies.

“I’m going to lay off my team,” Willard said in a now-viral moment. “Because we gave up eight points on out-of-bounds defense. The only thing I’m going to do is fire them and hire a new staff.”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Head coach Kevin Willard of the Villanova Wildcats during the Big East men’s tournament quarterfinal against the Georgetown Hoyas at Madison Square Garden on March 12, 2026 in New York. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

Willard may have been joking, but his deadpan speech made others think he was serious about this at the moment.

After the 86-76 loss to end the season, Willard sat down for a postgame interview in which he was asked about his in-game comments regarding his team.

Again, he may have been joking, but he doubled down.

VILLANOVA COACH TURNS HEADS AFTER ‘JOKE’ THAT HE WILL ‘LAY MY STAFF’ DURING MARCH MADNESS LOSS

“We gave up a big three-pointer late,” Willard told reporters, according to CBS Sports. “I will probably have to make some changes to my team due to our poor performance.”

As he was asked another question about his team, Willard came back.

“It’s a joke,” he said. “God bless him…I don’t care. Welcome to my life. It’s a joke.”

Head coach Kevin Willard of the Villanova Wildcats gestures during the NCAA Tournament game against the Utah State Aggies at San Diego State University on March 20, 2026, in California. (Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)

Willard wasn’t happy with his team’s performance anyway. Although the inbounds plays were problematic, the Wildcats also blew a 10-point lead in the second half, which he attributed to the Aggies’ relentless pressure.

“You know, we got out to a 10-point lead and then we gave up three offensive rebounds. Give them credit. They’re a veteran team, with older guards. They did a great job coming in late, but we had our opportunities,” he said. “Then we were up 73-71 and we missed two layups that really hurt us. Give them credit. They took advantage of it.”

Utah State head coach Jerrod Calhoun said, “We didn’t like our seed,” after his No. 10 team beat No. 7 Villanova. But they’ll have to prove it with another upset against top-seeded Arizona on Sunday at 7:50 p.m. ET.

“We won 28 games. We won the regular season title, we won the tournament title,” Calhoun said, according to CBS Sports. “So when this team has an edge and they play with a little bit of swagger and a little bit of toughness and resilience, we can cause a lot of problems.”

Villanova Wildcats head coach Kevin Willard during a press conference before the first round of the 2026 men’s NCAA tournament at Viejas Arena. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Willard was the head coach of the Maryland Terrapins last season, where he was able to take his team to the second round of the NCAA tournament thanks to a game-winning bucket from Derik Queen to beat Colorado State.

Follow Fox News Digital sports coverage on and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.