William B. Finneran Endowed Head Coach Kevin Willard today announced his 2025-26 Villanova coaching staff. It includes six members of the group that led Maryland to 27 victories and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 in 2024-25 along with a Villanova veteran who has served two stints with the Wildcats.
Joining the Villanova staff from Maryland are assistant coaches David Cox, Kevin Norris, Greg Manning Jr. and Ricky Harris. Ashley Howard, who served as a Wildcats’ assistant coach from 2013-18 and returned to the staff in 2023, will continue to serve in that role. In addition, Brenton Petty has been named Director, Player Personnel while Charlie Butler is the new Director, Basketball Operations. Petty and Butler were also part of the Terrapins’ staff before joining the Wildcats.
“We are thrilled to welcome an outstanding group of coaches to Villanova,” stated Willard. “In this era of college basketball staff cohesion is incredibly valuable. To be able to maintain that with coaches who are also a great fit for this community is a huge win. Together we have a group that brings extensive Big East recruiting experience along with a proven track record of on-court development.
“It’s a great day to be a Wildcat.”
Assistant Coach David Cox
Former Rhode Island head coach David Cox (2018-22) most recently served alongside Willard for three seasons at Maryland.
A Landover, Md., native, Cox first worked in the Big East Conference as the video coordinator at the University of Pittsburgh in 2006-07. He was then hired as an assistant coach at Georgetown (2007-10) and then was named associate head coach at Rutgers (2010-14).
In 2014, Cox joined Dan Hurley’s staff at URI and two years later was named associate head coach. When Hurley accepted the job at the University of Connecticut in 2018, Cox was tabbed head coach of the Rams. He won 64 games in his tenure.
Cox spent the last two seasons as Maryland’s associate head coach, playing a key role as the Terrapins earned a second-place finish in the Big Ten Conference.
A 1995 graduate of William & Mary, Cox was a three-year starter at point guard for the Tribe.
Assistant Coach Kevin Norris
Kevin Norris returns to the Big East Conference, where he excelled as a point guard for coach Leonard Hamilton at the University of Miami from 1995-98. The former Big East All-Rookie Team selection is the only player in program history to lead the Hurricanes in assists for four seasons.
As a coach, Norris moved to Maryland ahead of a special 2024-25 campaign after serving eight seasons on Johnny Dawkins’ staff at UCF. While at UCF, Norris helped the Knights to a 148-103 overall record and was a key figure in the program achieving its first-ever at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament in 2019.
In addition to his time on the UCF staff, Norris also coached at USC (2013-16), FGCU (2011-13), UNC Wilmington (2010-11), and Texas A&M Corpus Christi (2008-10). He was part of Andy Enfield’s staff when FGCU stormed past No. 2 seed Georgetown and No. 7 seed San Diego State to become the first No. 15 seed to advance to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 at Philadelphia’s Well Fargo Center.
Assistant Coach Ashley Howard
Philadelphia native Ashley Howard joined Villanova’s staff in 2013 after serving a season at Xavier University and had a hand in one of the program’s most successful eras. The Wildcats won Big East regular season titles in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 and claimed Big East Tournament crowns in 2015, 2017, and 2018.
Howard also earned NCAA national championship rings with the Wildcats in both 2016 and 2018. Among the Wildcats legends he helped tutor were Ryan Arcidiacono, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, Donte DiVincenzo and Jalen Brunson.
In 2018, Howard was named head coach at La Salle University, where he served until 2022. A year later Howard returned to Villanova as an assistant coach.
Assistant Coach Greg Manning Jr.
A former standout player at Loyola University (2004-08), Manning Jr., spent the last seven seasons at Maryland, during which he helped the Terrapins position themselves for five NCAA Tournament appearances (the 2019-20 NCAA Tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
Manning began his coaching career at Siena under his former college coach Jimmy Patsos. Manning helped guide the Saints to the program’s first MAAC Championship game appearance in seven years during the 2016-17 campaign. Siena won 13 of its final 19 contests to amass a 17-17 overall record and finish tied for third in the MAAC with a 12-8 league mark.
Manning joined the staff at Maryland in 2018, serving as the program’s video coordinator until 2021. At that point he was elevated to director of basketball operations. In 2023, he was promoted to an assistant coaching position under head coach Kevin Willard.
Assistant Coach Ricky Harris
One of the most prolific scorers in UMass basketball history, Ricky Harris served the last two seasons as Maryland’s Director of Player Personnel.
Harris joined the Terps after spending the previous two seasons as the Director of Operations at his alma mater. Prior to that, he played 11 professional seasons overseas in Lithuania, Ukraine, Germany, Italy, Turkey, and Argentina.
A 2010 graduate from UMass, Harris helped lead the Minutemen to a 73-58 record during his four-year career highlighted by a pair of NIT appearances. The Baltimore native played 129 career games at UMass finishing third all-time in scoring with 1,960 points. He ranks second for single-season three pointers made (104, 2007-08) and is tied for the single-game record for threes in a game (8 on Mar. 3, 2010).
Director, Player Personnel Brenton Petty
Brenton Petty comes to Villanova after serving as Director of Player Development/Assistant Coach in 2024-25. Prior to that, he served as Maryland’s video coordinator, a role he assumed in 2021.
A native of Washington, D.C., Petty served as a graduate manager for Maryland from 2018-20 and was also a basketball operations assistant for the Detroit Pistons before rejoining the Terps.
Petty played collegiately at Fordham University from 2015-18 and graduated with a degree in communications. He earned his master’s degree from Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business in 2020.
Director, Basketball Operations Charlie Butler
The move to Villanova is also a return to the Big East for Charlie Butler, who began his career in basketball working with Kevin Willard while a student manager at Seton Hall University from 2011-15.
He spent six seasons on Willard’s staff at Seton Hall as the Coordinator of Basketball Operations for the Seton Hall men’s basketball team, a position he was appointed to in July 2017. Prior to this promotion, Butler spent two years as the video coordinator and four years as a team manager during his undergraduate career at The Hall.
A native of Annapolis, Md., Butler came to Maryland in 2022. He was appointed as Director of Basketball Operations for the Terrapins in 2023 and spent the past two seasons in that role.
https://villanova.com/news/2025/5/2/willard-announces-mens-basketball-staff.aspx
