Willard, who has served as head coach for four seasons at Western Kentucky (1990-94), five years at Pittsburgh (1994-99) and 10 at Holy Cross (1999-2009), has previously coached with Pitino on three occasions. Willard was an assistant under Pitino with the NBA New York Knicks (1987-89), at the University of Kentucky (1989-90) and at Louisville (2009-10), where he also served a year with the Cardinals as Director of Basketball Operations (2010-11).
After leaving the Cardinals in 2011, Willard worked as a consultant for Holy Cross for two years before serving as a scout for the NBA Oklahoma City Thunder for the 2013-14 season. Willard replaces Wyking Jones, who was an assistant coach with the Cardinals for the last four seasons.
