SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Kevin Willard insists he has no idea what's next for him in coaching, not yet. Not moments after Maryland's NCAA Tournament defeat to top-seeded Florida, and certainly not before speaking with his agent and his wife.
Willard has been linked to the Villanova job and also publicly expressed concerns last week with the direction of the Terrapins program, calling for “fundamental changes.”
Also complicating matters is that erstwhile Maryland athletic director Damon Evans just took over at SMU.
“My biggest concerns in life right now, I don’t know who my boss is going to be,” Willard said when asked if there's something Maryland can do to keep him. “The guy that brought me here who I really like and am appreciative of him bringing me to College Park is not here anymore, and I don't know who we're going to hire. And in today’s day and age, that worries me a little bit. I'm just being honest.”
Willard said he has no regrets being straightforward about his feelings — “My honesty got me in trouble, it might as well keep getting me in trouble.”
And when asked if he has received an offer from Villanova, Willard said, “I have no idea.”
“No, I don’t know what I’m doing. I'll just be honest with you. I haven’t talked to my agent, I haven't talked to my wife,” he said after No. 4 seed Maryland lost 87-71. “I made a promise to my team that I was going to just focus on this team and that's all I've done. I haven't talked to anybody. I have an agent, I’m sure he’s talking to people because that’s what agents like to do. But I don’t know.”
Fans booed the coach as the team departed its Bay Area hotel earlier in the day.
“I understand fans are going to be pissed because I'm in limbo, I get it,” Willard said, sharing that he himself is angry because he didn't envision being in this spot.
He spoke to his players and some said they appreciated the transparency.
“We were able to put it to the side really,” fifth-year senior Jordan Geronimo said. “We all came here on one mission, to win. Yes there was extra stuff going on behind the scenes but Coach addressed us, the team personally, and said what he had to say. I think that gave us closure. I feel like that extra nonsense didn’t play a part.”
Willard, who will turn 50 on April 6, led Maryland to a 27-9 record in his third season and is 65-39 overall at the school, with two March Madness appearances in three seasons. This was his seventh NCAA Tournament berth overall after getting there five times with Seton Hall, and his first time in the Sweet 16.
“I really enjoyed coaching this basketball team, from the time they stepped on campus in June they’ve just been so much fun to coach and to kind of see them grow together,” Willard said.
For now, Willard would like to celebrate what his team accomplished in the Big Ten and on the big stage. The Terrapins had their best record since also going 27-9 in 2015-16, the program's last Sweet 16 appearance.
"What this group of guys was able to come together and do and the season that we had, just proud of them, they fought all year long," Willard said. “This was by far the best team I've ever been around.”
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Maryland head coach Kevin Willard reacts from the sideline during the second half in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA college basketball tournament game against Florida, Thursday, March 27, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
Maryland head coach Kevin Willard reacts during the first half in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA college basketball tournament game against Florida, Thursday, March 27, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.
In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.
Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.
“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.
If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.
For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.
“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.
Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.
"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.
Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.
Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.
Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.
The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.
“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.
As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.
What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.
The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.
One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.
Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.
“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.
The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.
Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.
“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.
Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.
“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
