When Villanova announced on Saturday, March 15, that it was parting ways with head men’s basketball coach Kyle Neptune, it marked the start of an uncertain future for Villanova basketball.

For the time being, it was announced that an interim coach will take responsibility for the coach duties while Villanova finds its next head coach to lead the program.

“A national search for the next leader of Villanova Men’s Basketball will begin immediately, and we look forward to sharing more information when an appointment is finalized,” University President Rev. Peter M. Donohue, O.S.A., Ph.D. said in a statement released on March 15. “Until then, Mike Nardi ‘07 VSB, will serve as the interim head coach.”

Villanova was once a program that was consistently at the top of the college basketball landscape. From 2004 to 2022, the Wildcats made tournament appearances in all but one season and captured two national championships in three years (2016 and 2018). 

After another season that fell short of expectations, Villanova is set for an entirely new look. With a new athletic director, a soon-to-be new coach and a new starting five, the future of Villanova basketball is one big question mark. 

First, Villanova needs to find a coach who is capable of managing the pressures that come with leading the basketball program, but at the same time a coach who represents the University’s values. There is a multitude of high-level coaches who can perform under pressure but could struggle to represent Villanova’s values.

The two approaches to that include hiring from the ‘Villanova family’ or going outside and bringing in someone who has no connection to Villanova, which Villanova rarely does.

However, with the recent hire of the new Vice President and Director of Athletics Eric Roedl, hiring outside of the program might just be the way Villanova goes. Roedl, who was the deputy athletic director at Oregon University before coming to Villanova, knows what it is like to make future-defining coaching hires and decisions.

And it’s important to note that Jay Wright’s former coaching assistants have just a singular NCAA tournament appearance in 73 combined seasons as head coaches.

What makes up a good basketball program in today’s era is funding. Villanova raises a lot of its money from donors. When a team is not living up to expectations, it is hard for donors to justify giving more funds to the program. 

But there’s one thing that can’t be denied: the program needs to spend money to win. 

Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) plays a big part in spending money to win. Earlier this season, the Big East Coach of the Year, St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino, proved why NIL and the portal are such a powerful tool.

“This year we’re not even looking at high school basketball players, we are looking for three transfer guys,” Pitino said in an interview on Barstool’s Pardon My Take. “I don’t get involved in the financial negotiations, but if we need more money,  I’ll call our guy Mike Repole (founder of Body Armor) to get more money. I don’t think you can win big with high school kids [in this era].”

St. John’s, under that mindset, is currently a No. 2 seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament and clinched the Big East this regular season. 

Traditionally, that is not how Villanova approaches its rosters and recruitment. It was normal for a Wildcat to stay all four years of his college basketball career at Villanova. Recently, Villanova has slowly adapted to the changes of college athletics.

Villanova only signed one high school recruit for the class of 2025, McDonald’s All-American Dante Allen, who signed his letter of intent with the school earlier this year. 

Due to a head coaching change, Allen has 30 days to decide not to come to Villanova and look elsewhere. That is unlikely, due to the fact Allen’s father is former Wildcat Malik Allen and the school is more than just a place to play basketball. He has a family history.

Three transfers – senior guard Wooga Poplar, senior forward Enoch Boakye and graduate Jhamir Brickus – headed Villanova’s starting lineup this season. 

Most notably, Villanova will lose the nation’s leading scorer, graduate forward Eric Dixon, due to eligibility. As Neptune and many other coaches noted this season, there are not that many people who can replicate Dixon’s game or production.

It will take money and a lot of recruiting to find someone in the transfer portal who can replace Dixon’s production. He scored double digits in 47 consecutive games and averaged 23 points so far this season.

It comes down to hiring a new coach to create a domino effect across the program. The wrong selection could pull further away from the program’s storied past, but the right one could send the Wildcats back to March Madness and once again pack the Finneran Pavilion for NCAA Tournament watch parties.