Neptune out as Villanova coach after 3 seasons

• Jeff Borzello Close Jeff Borzello ESPN Staff Author Basketball recruiting insider. Joined ESPN in 2014. Graduate of University of Delaware.Mar 15, 2025, 11:16 AM ET Villanova has fired men’s basketball coach Kyle

• Neptune after three seasons, the school

revealed Saturday.Assistant coach Mike Nardi will function as interim head coach while the school searches for Neptune’s successor.Villanova athletic director Eric Roedl thanked Neptune for his “tireless work ethic and his dedication”in a statement announcing his dismissal.” We are grateful to Kyle for his long service to Villanova and his mentorship to the numerous outstanding boys he has coached,” Roedl added.Neptune, who changed Jay Wright following the Hall of Famer’s retirement in 2022, will end his tenure without an NCAA competition appearance. The Wildcats briefly played their method onto the bubble towards the end of the routine season, but a road loss to Georgetown in the season finale and a 17-point defeat to UConn in the Big East competition quarterfinals ended their NCAA competition hopes.Editor’s Picks Although Neptune was provided the unenviable task of filling the shoes of a coach who led Villanova to two national championships and four Final Fours, he struggled almost right away to produce continual momentum. The Wildcats started 2-5 in his very first season, with eyebrow-raising losses to Temple and Portland– a pattern that became a theme throughout his time on the Main

Line.They ended up 17-17 in Year 1 then suffered losses to Philadelphia Big 5 rivals Penn, Saint Joseph’s and Drexel in the first month of the 2023-24 campaign. Villanova rose in February however struggled to close the campaign and ended up 18-16 regardless of being ranked in the preseason Leading 25. With Neptune clearly entering a critical season in 2024-25, Villanova lost by 10 in your home to Columbia in the second

game of the campaign and opened with 4 losses in its very first 7 games. A 1-5 stretch in January dropped the Wildcats to 12-10 overall.Villanova went 54-47 throughout Neptune’s three seasons at the helm.Under Wright, Villanova made the NCAA competition in 16 of his final 17 seasons, winning a minimum of one competition game in each of his last eight postseasons. The last time the Wildcats missed the NCAA tournament in 3 straight seasons came in 2002 to 2004, Wright’s first 3 seasons in charge.Prior to changing Wright, Neptune was the head coach at Fordham for one season. He functioned as an assistant coach under Wright at

Villanova from 2013 to 2021 and was the video coordinator for the Wildcats from 2008 to 2010.