Villanova has fired men's basketball coach Kyle Neptune after three seasons, sources told ESPN.
An official announcement could come as early as this afternoon.
Neptune, who replaced Jay Wright following the Hall of Famer's retirement in 2022, will end his tenure without an NCAA tournament appearance. The Wildcats briefly played their way onto the bubble toward the end of the regular season, but a road loss to Georgetown in the season finale and a 17-point defeat to UConn in the Big East quarterfinals ended those hopes.
Although Neptune was given the unenviable task of filling the shoes of a coach who led Villanova to two national championships and four Final Fours, he struggled almost immediately to generate sustained momentum. The Wildcats started 2-5 in his first season at the helm, with eyebrow-raising losses to Temple and Portland — a trend that became a theme during his time on the Main Line.
They finished 17-17 in year one, then suffered losses to Philadelphia Big 5 rivals Penn, Saint Joseph's and Drexel in the first month of the 2023-24 campaign. Villanova surged in February, but struggled to close the campaign and finished 18-16 despite being ranked in the preseason top 25 to open the season.
With Neptune clearly entering a pivotal season in 2024-25, Villanova lost by 10 at home to Columbia in the second game of the campaign and opened with four losses in its first seven games. A 1-5 stretch in January dropped the Wildcats to 12-10 overall and they were unable to work their way back into the NCAA tournament picture.
Villanova went 54-47 during Neptune's three seasons at the helm.
The development was first reported by Villanova's student newspaper, The Villanovan.
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