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Kevin Willard Blames Temple For Villanova’s Big 5 Exit, Calls Current Format Stupid While Also Criticizing Philadelphia Inquirer Reporting
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Oh boy! We’ve got a doozy here from Kevin Willard, who was answering a question from the Inquirer’s Jeff Neiburg about Villanova leaving Big 5 play next season:
Transcribed the first clip:
Willard: Yeah I mean it’s really disappointing, to be honest with you. I enjoyed being in the Big 5 last year, tremendously. Understanding the history of it and being a part of it last year was awesome. Unfortunately it really wasn’t a Villanova decision. Either you wrote a really poor article or people can’t read your article. But this wasn’t a Villanova decision. We wanted and thought a month ago that we had a deal. I think you need to talk to the Temple A.D. and get your stories right. It’s not a Villanova thing. Villanova wants to be in the Big 5. They are the Big 5. But unfortunately, either people are illiterate, which I don’t think they are, or you’re just a bad writer.
Neiburg: Did you want to go into this same format next year?
Willard: No, the format’s stupid. Let’s just put it that way. I wanted two things. I wanted to have a banquet the night before the Xfinity game. I thought that would be great to have a Hall of Fame. The schools couldn’t afford it, supposedly, or didn’t want to do it. And then I wanted the (pod games) to lead up to the Xfinity game. I wanted to have continuity in the fact that people would know when we’re playing, so that we can actually get people to the games. We played La Salle and there was 500 people. Penn played St. Joe’s and there was 2,000 people. My whole thing was to make it the way it was, but the other schools didn’t see it the same way. The other schools wanted us to play on the road every year. I have to do what’s best for my program, and I thought the format we agreed on was pretty good. The lowest NET team of the six, the three would get home games. So that doesn’t mean we were guaranteed not to be on the road. I guess the other schools just didn’t think that would happen. Not my issue. We want to be in it. We did everything to do it. Talk to Temple. Talk to those guys. It wasn’t Villanova.
In the second clip, Willard says he doesn’t want to go to La Salle to “play in front of 400 people.” Then he accused Neiburg of using Villanova for “clicks,” or else “no one would click on his article.” He says Villanova missed out on two big scheduling opportunities in order to save dates for NEXT YEAR’S Big 5 Classic. He claims that Villanova was all in and the other five schools opted out.
For context, here’s what Villanova put out in an official statement:
Somewhat vague. Basically just says they talked but couldn’t agree on how to proceed. But that line about doing what’s in their best interests seems to confirm the thought that not having to play Big 5 road games against mid-majors was a sticking point.
I’m re-reading Neiburg’s article now, and he writes this near the top:
While it’s possible that a Big 5 Classic remains intact with an annual tripleheader, the current format will be no longer after Villanova was not interested in keeping with the status quo, according to sources. A different setup that Villanova was into — one that would all but guarantee the Wildcats to not have to play another Big 5 road game — could not be agreed upon by all six schools.
…
All six schools, meanwhile, are working toward a possibility that a one-day Big 5 Classic tripleheader lives on into the future, sources said.
I don’t really see much in here that Willard would be bothered with. I guess he’s annoyed with the framing of the narrative, that Nova left everybody else hanging. He’s making it sound like Nova wanted to get a deal done, and blaming the other schools for that not happening.
Regardless, Nova is out for now. The other five schools are gonna probably do the round robin thing. So not sure how to frame it differently from a macro level. Villanova is leaving and the others are sticking together, which sure makes it sound like a Nova thing and not an “everybody else” thing, but who knows?
It’s plausible that Temple’s A.D., Arthur Johnson, screwed it up. All of Temple’s athletic programs are currently stinking up the joint on his watch. But we’ll have to ask him, and ask the other schools, as Willard suggests.
Willard is also a dickhead, but we already knew that.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com