Kevin Willard, was named the new head coach of the Seton Hall men's basketball program on March 29, 2010.  He became the 19th head coach in Seton Hall history and joined the Pirates after three years as head coach of the Iona College men's basketball team. 

Last season, Willard and the Pirates took a major step forward.  Seton Hall won 21 games, the most since the 2003-04 season and earned a berth in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) for the 17th time in history.    With the help of All-BIG EAST performers Herb Pope and Jordan Theodore, the Pirates snapped a 10-game losing streak in the NIT with a victory over Stony Brook, their first post-season victory in eight seasons.  Earlier in the year, Seton Hall broke out to a 15-2 start, its best since 1992-93, which resulted in its first national ranking, #24, in nearly 12 years.  Willard also guided the Pirates to a victory over a pair of top-10 teams, defeating #9 Georgetown on Feb. 21, and #8 Connecticut on Jan. 3, snapping an 11-game losing streak to the Huskies.

In his first year in South Orange, the Pirates played one of the most difficult schedules in the nation, which included 10 games against ranked teams and 18 games against teams that made it to the 2011 NCAA Tournament.  Despite the daunting gauntlet, Willard's Pirates played well in registering victories over NCAA Tournament teams, Saint Peter's, Marquette, #15 St. John's and #9 Syracuse.  The 90-68 upset over the Orange was only Seton Hall's fifth win in 27 games at the Carrier Dome.  Even the games that the Pirates lost, they displayed the hard work and determination that has become the routine effort for Willard's teams.  In Seton Hall's five home BIG EAST losses, the Pirates fell by an average of just 4.2 points, including a two-point loss to Connecticut, the eventual national champion.

Before Seton Hall, Willard took over the Iona head coaching job in 2007.  He inherited a Gaels team that had won just two games the prior season.  Only three seasons later, Willard guided Iona to a 21-10 overall record and was named Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Coach of the year.

During his first year as a head coach, the 2007-08 season, the Gaels finished with 10 more victories than the previous year, one of the top turnarounds in NCAA Div. I.  He instilled his foundation of up tempo, aggressive play with an emphasis on having fun playing the game of basketball to his young team.  

Prior to the start of his career as a head coach, Willard served the previous six seasons as an assistant and associate head coach at the University of Louisville, where he was mentored by college coaching legend Rick Pitino.  Willard also credits his father, Ralph, as one of his coaching influences.  Ralph Willard is currently Pitino's associate coach at Louisville, but enjoyed a successful 19-year run as the head coach at Western Kentucky, Pittsburgh and Holy Cross.

At Louisville, Kevin Willard was responsible for assisting with the Cardinals' game preparations, scouting and preparing game plans. He also served as chief recruiting coordinator.

During his tenure, Louisville was ranked in the Top 25 for five seasons and reached the post season in each of his six years.  The squad reached the NCAA Tournament on four occasions including a visit to the 2005 Final Four, the first time in 19 years that the Cardinals had advanced that deep into the post season.  In his six seasons at Louisville, the Cardinals posted a phenomenal 142-58 record averaging nearly 24 wins per season.

Prior to Louisville, Willard worked with Pitino as a coaching associate with the Boston Celtics for four years.  His duties with the Celtics included game and practice preparation, scouting and assisting the coaching staff in all basketball matters.  He provided advance scouting, video tape breakdowns and assisted with individual workouts prior to games.

Willard was a collegiate basketball point guard, playing his last three years at Pittsburgh.  He earned BIG EAST All-Academic honors while appearing in 75 games for the Panthers.

He played his freshman season at Western Kentucky, where he played in the Hilltoppers' backcourt and sank over 40 percent of his three-point goals.

Willard hails from New York, but played his high school basketball at Bowling Green High School (Ky.) while his father was the head coach at Western Kentucky.  He earned Second Team All-State honors as a senior and helped his team to a combined 76-15 record in his final three prep seasons.

He is married to the former Julie Wagner and they have two sons, Colin, who was born in August, 2006 and Chase born in June, 2008.