COLLEGE PARK, MD – After leading No. 11 Maryland to its second NCAA Tournament berth in his three seasons as head coach and a 25-8 overall record, head coach Kevin Willard has been named the NABC East District Co-Coach of the Year as announced today.
 
This marks the seventh Coach of the Year honor for Willard during his career.
 
In his third season with the Terps, Willard has led Maryland to one of its most successful seasons with 25 wins, a second-place finish in the Big Ten, it's third-ever trip to the Big Ten Semifinals, and six weeks ranked in the AP Top 25 poll – the most since the 2019-20 season. 
 
Maryland's 25 wins so far this season are tied as the sixth-most in program history and the most since recording 27 in 2015-16. The total also ties his 2015-16 season at Seton Hall for his career-high in single season wins.
 
Additionally, the Terps had eight Quad 1 victories on the year and five wins over AP Top 25 teams. In earning the No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament, it marks the highest Maryland has been seeded since also being a four seed in the 2015.
 
In his tenure at Maryland, Willard has the best three-year win total among all head coaches in program history with 63 wins. That's followed by 54 for Lefty Driesell from 1969-72 and 49 for Gary Williams from 1989-92. He is also tied with Bud Millikan (1951-53) for the most conference wins (32) in an opening three-year span.
 
During Willard's first season at Maryland in 2022-23, he achieved several notable firsts for any Maryland head coach: first to lead the Terps to the NCAA Tournament during a coach's first year, first Maryland coach to post 20 wins in a season, first coach to have Maryland ranked in AP Top 25 in their first season.
 
Willard earned the honor alongside West Virginia's Darian DeVries.

NABC District Coaches Of The Year:
Central District Coach of the Year: Dennis Gates, Missouri
East District Co-Coaches of the Year: Darian DeVries, West Virginia and Kevin Willard, Maryland
Great Lakes District Coach of the Year: Tom Izzo, Michigan State
Gulf District Coach of the Year: Kelvin Sampson, Houston
Mid-Atlantic District Coach of the Year: Phil Martelli Jr., Bryant
Mountain District Coach of the Year: Richard Pitino, New Mexico
North Atlantic District Coach of the Year: Rick Pitino, St. John's
Pacific District Coach of the Year: Eric Olen, UC San Diego
Southeast District Coach of the Year: Bruce Pearl, Auburn
South Atlantic District Coach of the Year: Jon Scheyer, Duke