Tag: Kyle Neptune

Villanova misses the men’s tournament in back-to-back seasons

It’s another Villanova-less Selection Sunday

The post-Jay Wright era at Villanova has gotten off to a rocky start under head coach Kyle Neptune and things did not get much better on Selection Sunday.

For the second consecutive season, the Wildcats will not participate in the NCAA men’s tournament.

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Wright’s tenure started in 2001-02 with three consecutive trips to the NIT before he got his program back to the NCAA tournament, so Neptune isn’t completely off track yet, however this is the first time the Wildcats have missed out on an opportunity to play for a championship in back-to-back seasons since then.

 

The three-time NCAA champions were among the most notable names on a particularly strong bubble this year, which kept the Wildcats’ tournament dreams on edge over the last two months. While early season victories over No. 14 North Carolina, Texas Tech, Maryland and No. 12 Creighton bolstered the Wildcats’ resume, the team really struggled against ranked opponents, going 2-5 with two losses each to Marquette, UConn and St. John’s.

Villanova wasn’t even among the first four out.

One year after going 17-17 (10-10 Big East) with a first round exit in the 2023 NIT, Neptune’s second year on the job didn’t yield much better results as the program went 18-15 (10-10 Big East).

Long time Penn State assistant signs extension with Fordham

Scratch this former Penn State assistant off the watch list for Penn State’s next head basketball coach.

With the opening for a men’s head basketball coach at Penn State the focus of the athletic department at the moment, many names have been floated on who could and should replace [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag].

Assistant coach [autotag]Adam Fisher[/autotag] has been a popular name among the former players. Recently, a report surfaced that Penn State might be eyeing Texas interim head coach Rodney Terry.

Longtime Penn State assistant [autotag]Keith Urgo[/autotag] was highlighted as someone to keep an eye on regarding the open position. Urgo was an assistant for nine years in State College, coaching under [autotag]Pat Chambers[/autotag] for the majority of the time.

In 2021, Urgo left to be the associate head coach of Fordham and was eventually named the head coach for the 2022-23 season after [autotag]Kyle Neptune[/autotag] left for Villanova.

However, rumors about him returning to State College were put to bed on Friday after he signed a long-term contract extension with the Rams that keeps him in the Bronx until at least the 2027-28 season. Urgo led Fordham to a 25-8 record, the second most wins in program history. This earned him Atlantic 10 Conference Coach of the Year honors.

Urgo may have never been a realistic candidate for the job. Even with his past ties to Penn State, he doesn’t have a connection with the current athletic department.

Big picture, this might be a good thing for the program overall. It would have been easy for it to go back to something familiar, such as a past assistant to take over the program. That’s not a shot at Urgo. He proved he has the ability to be a great coach this past season at Fordham.

But this is an opportunity for Penn State’s athletic department to show it is actually committed to building a basketball program by devoting finances and resources to improve the current infrastructure.

This hire has to be the right one, not the easy one.

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