Kyle Neptune didn’t make the NCAA tournament once after he took over for Jay Wright. (Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images)
The Kyle Neptune era at Villanova is over.
The Wildcats have fired their head coach, the school announced Saturday. The move comes after they fell to UConn in the Big East tournament quarterfinals on Thursday, which all but ensured the team would miss the NCAA tournament for a third straight season.
“Since coming to Villanova, I have been struck by Kyle’s tireless work ethic and his dedication to the student-athletes he served,” said Villanova Vice President and Director of Athletics Eric Roedl. “We are grateful to Kyle for his long service to Villanova and his mentorship to the many outstanding young men he has coached.”
Assistant Mike Nardi will serve as interim head coach until a replacement is found.
Neptune took over for Jay Wright at Villanova when the longtime coach retired after the 2021-22 campaign. Neptune was the coach at Fordham for one season before being hired as the Wildcats’ head coach, though he was Wright’s longest-tenured assistant at Villanova before landing his first head coaching job.
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Once he took over, however, the program plummeted almost immediately. The team, which reached the Final Four in Wright’s final season at the helm after winning a pair of national championships in the past decade, failed to make the NCAA tournament or win at least a share of the Big East regular-season title — which is something Wright did consistently.
The team had at least a .500 record in all three years, but suffered horrific losses along the way. The Wildcats lost at least eight times to teams ranked outside the KenPom top 100, which is something Wright did just two times in his last nine seasons. They went 19-14 this season and finished in sixth in the Big East standings, though well behind the top tier of teams like St. John’s, Marquette and Creighton. They also lost to Virginia, Maryland, Saint Joseph’s and even Columbia — which finished near the bottom of the Ivy League and fired its head coach — before conference play began.
In total, Neptune went 54-47 at Villanova. This is now the worst stretch of basketball the program has seen since Wright’s arrival, when the Wildcats missed the tournament during a five-year span.
The Wildcats will now begin looking for a new head coach immediately. While the dominant era of basketball Wright brought in is clearly now behind them, Neptune’s replacement will be tasked with bringing that back as quickly as possible — which starts with simply making the NCAA tournament next spring. Anything less than that mark, fair or not, will be disappointing for the former Big East powerhouse.
