‘We have the right guy in place’: Villanova is committed to coach Kyle Neptune

After a second straight exit in the first round of the NIT on Wednesday night, Villanova men’s basketball coach Kyle Neptune said he thought the program had “a bright future.”

The comment, and the way the season ended, left some wondering whether the second-year Villanova coach would be the one guiding the Wildcats into that future. A portion of a sparse Finneran Pavilion crowd had chanted for Neptune’s firing as the team walked off the court following a 70-61 loss to VCU.

But Villanova remains committed to Neptune, and a change to the program’s head coach is not coming, athletic director Mark Jackson told The Inquirer on Thursday.

“I think we have the right guy in place to get us where we need to go,” Jackson said.

There were meetings Thursday, and Neptune, Jackson said, was “angry, disappointed ... and I’d say hungry to attack what needs to be done to get us right.”

Jackson described Neptune as “somebody that’s ready to take on the challenge.”

Villanova is 35-33 in Neptune’s two seasons on the Main Line after he was chosen as the successor to Jay Wright, Neptune’s hiring announced practically in the same breath as the Hall of Fame coach’s retirement following the team’s Final Four run in 2022.

» READ MORE: Villanova and Kyle Neptune have to figure out what kind of program they want to be

Villanova lost four of its final five games to close the 2023-24 season after seemingly working its way back into the NCAA Tournament conversation. The lone win came on a late three-point shot in the opening round of the Big East tournament to avoid an embarrassing loss to DePaul, which didn’t win a conference game this season.

The Wildcats nearly knocked off Marquette in the Big East quarterfinals, losing in overtime. Then came Wednesday’s NIT loss.

“Obviously, we didn’t have the results we wanted toward the end of the season,” Neptune said Wednesday. “I get it. I get the frustration. … We’re going to come up with a great plan. We’re going to push our guys as hard as possible in the offseason. We’re going to recruit some great guys here, and we’re going to come back better than ever next year.”

There have been plenty of Neptune detractors over the last two seasons, not just Wednesday night.

Villanova has dealt with injuries, most notably to Justin Moore, who never seemed to look like himself after suffering a torn Achilles tendon in the waning moments of an Elite Eight win in 2022. Moore, whom Villanova was built around, sprained his knee and missed time this season. He was not as effective or explosive as the previous version of himself.

But there are valid arguments that Villanova had enough talent to sustain Moore’s injuries and still reach the NCAA Tournament this season. Villanova, stocked with plenty of NIL dollars, spent a lot of money to lure multiple transfers to the roster last offseason, including Richmond’s leading scorer Tyler Burton and combo guard TJ Bamba, a Bronx native who played at Washington State. The Wildcats also added Philadelphia’s Hakim Hart from Maryland and Camden’s Lance Ware from Kentucky. The Wildcats lost 10 games by single digits and suffered demoralizing defeats in the Big 5 to Penn, St. Joseph’s, and Drexel.

Wright’s surprise retirement made it a tough road to recruit in the 2023 class, and Villanova brought in just one freshman recruit, Jordann Dumont, who redshirted. The four-player transfer class was meant to offset that, but all of the pieces never really seemed to fit. It was all of those factors — the missed tournament, the lack of improvement year-over-year, the money spent on the roster — that had fans apathetic and calling for change Wednesday night.

But Jackson and the Villanova administration still believe Neptune is the right person to lead the program into the future.

“He knows what the Villanova standard is,” Jackson said. “He’s lived it. He knows we’re not meeting it right now on the court. He drinks and sleeps this job. I know he’s fully committed to try to get us back on top.”

» READ MORE: It was Friday night at the Big East Tournament, and it was fair to wonder when Villanova would be back

While Neptune’s job is safe, Villanova is evaluating how to get the program back to prominence following this two-year downturn. Jackson remains confident in Villanova’s approach off the court, with Baker Dunleavy as general manager of basketball, and the school remains well-positioned with NIL dollars.

Neptune has a three-player 2024 recruiting class signed for the fall, and the Wildcats likely will go to the transfer portal to add talent. It remains unclear if they’ll lose any players from the current roster to the portal. Moore, Burton, Hart, and Chris Arcidiacono are out of eligibility. Eric Dixon seems unlikely to return for his fifth and final year of eligibility.

Dixon’s decision is one of many facing the Wildcats this offseason, but the head coach is not one of them.

Jackson said the school and program remain undeterred from their aspirations of remaining a program that competes at the highest levels of the sport.

“We know when we play Villanova basketball and when we do things the right way, we can do that,” he said. “Now we have to figure out how to get back there.”