Villanova’s newly-minted head coach has announced his full assistant coaching lineup.
Villanova’s new head coach Kevin Willard has announced the full lineup of assistants that will make up his coaching staff.
Ashley Howard is the only Villanova staffer to stay, while there are six new members moving to the Main Line from Maryland.
Howard, David Cox, Kevin Norris, Greg Manning Jr. and Ricky Harris will be assistant coaches for the 2025-26 season. Brenton Petty has been named director of player personnel, while Charlie Butler is the new director of basketball operations.
“We are thrilled to welcome an outstanding group of coaches to Villanova,” Willard said in a statement. “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.”
Baker Dunleavy, who is employed by the school, will continue to serve as general manager as another Villanova holdover.
Get to know Willard’s new staff:
Charlie Butler, director of basketball operations
- Has been around Kevin Willard since he was a student manager at Seton Hall from 2011-15
- Joined the Pirates’ staff as a video coordinator for two years after graduating from Seton Hall
- Promoted to coordinator of basketball operations at Seton Hall in 2017
- A native of Annapolis, Md., Butler followed Willard to Maryland and served as director of basketball operations for the Terrapins over the last two years before coming to Villanova
David Cox, assistant coach
- Was an assistant for Willard over the last three years at Maryland, including the last two seasons as associate head coach
- Before going to Maryland, Cox served as the head coach for Rhode Island after Dan Hurley left to take the UConn job. Cox went 64-55 over his four years as head coach for the Rams from 2018-22. He was Hurley’s assistant for two years at Rhode Island before succeeding him as head coach.
- Has experience working in the Big East from 2006-14, starting as the Pitt video coordinator from 2006-07, followed by assistant coaching roles at Georgetown (2007-10) and Rutgers (2010-14).
- Former three-year starter as a player at William and Mary, before graduating in 1995
Ricky Harris, assistant coach
- Spent the last two seasons as Maryland’s director of player personnel
- Before coming to Maryland, he also spent two seasons as the director of basketball operations at UMass, his alma mater
- A four-year standout at UMass, finished as one of the program’s top scorers with 1,960 career points, before enjoying an 11-year pro career overseas. He graduated in 2010, so he’s one of the youngest on the staff.
Ashley Howard, assistant coach
- A holdover that experienced both the Jay Wright and Kyle Neptune eras, Howard is staying on the Main Line for the dawn of the Willard era.
- He came back to Villanova in 2023, after a year off following a four-year run as La Salle’s head coach from 2018-22 where he went 45-70.
- Howard is best known for his work as one of Wright’s assistants from 2013-18. The Wildcats captured four Big East regular season titles, three conference tournament titles and a pair of national championships in 2016 and 2018, and produced a handful of players who went to the NBA.
- Howard also has experience in assistant coaching roles at La Salle, Drexel and Xavier, before he first came to Villanova in 2013.
Greg Manning Jr., assistant coach
- Manning comes to Villanova after spending the last seven years at Maryland
- Before arriving at Maryland in 2018, he joined Siena’s coaching staff as an assistant in 2013, where he helped the Saints make their first MAAC championship game appearance in seven years during the 2016-17 season.
- He also spent five years at Loyola (Md.), his alma mater, where he helped the Greyhounds amass their highest win total in more than two decades during his playing days from 2004-08.
Kevin Norris, assistant coach
- Norris joins Willard at Villanova after spending his lone season in Maryland. Before serving as a Terrapins assistant for the 2024-25 season, he was a staffer for eight seasons at UCF under Johnny Dawkins.
- He was also an assistant coach during FGCU’s “Dunk City” run to the Sweet 16 in 2013, which also included a beatdown of No. 2 seed Georgetown in the opening round.
- Before his long eight-year run as an assistant at UCF, he also coached at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (2008-10), UNC-Wilmington (2010-11), FGCU (2011-13) and USC (2013-16).
- Norris was also a former All-Big East Rookie Team selection, when he played at Miami from 1995-98, leading the Hurricanes in assists all four years.
Brenton Perry, director of player personnel
- Perry previously served as Maryland’s video coordinator from 2021-25.
- He was also a graduate manager for the Terrapins from 2018-20 and then went on to serve as a basketball operations assistant for the Detroit Pistons for one year.
- Perry is also a former player, playing at Fordham from 2015-18.