Villanova fired men’s basketball coach Kyle Neptune after three seasons, the school announced Saturday.
Neptune went 54-47 during his tenure at Villanova, and no NCAA Tournament appearances. His firing comes a day after the Wildcats lost to UConn in the Big East tournament quarterfinals, and the school said assistant coach Mike Nardi will serve as the interim head coach until a new coach is hired.
‘Since coming to Villanova, I have been struck by Kyle’s tireless work ethic and his dedication to the student-athletes he served,’ Villanova Vice President and Director of Athletics Eric Roedl said in a statement. ‘We are grateful to Kyle for his long service to Villanova and his mentorship to the many outstanding young men he has coached.’
The 40-year-old Neptune took over for Jay Wright in April 2022 after spending one season at Fordham and eight seasons as an assistant under Wright.
Following in Wright’s footsteps was easier said than done. Wright led Villanova to eight Big East regular-season titles and two national championships and was in the Final Four in 2022 before announcing his retirement at age 60.
Nepture’s 2024-25 squad was inconsistently losing to teams they were favored to beat, including Columbia in the season’s second game, having three Quad 3 and Quad 4 losses.
Even though the team was led by the nation’s leading scorer in forward Eric Dixon, the Wildcats finished with a 19-14 record and a sixth-place finish in the Big East Conference.
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