Taylor Willard

Biography

Taylor Willard, who has coached at both the Division I and Division III levels for the past six years, joined the Delaware coaching staff as an assistant coach in 2025 ahead of the program's inaugural season. She will officially assume the role on July 1. Willard arrives in Newark after spending the past four seasons as an assistant coach at Norwich University, leading the Cadets to back-to-back New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) regular season championships in 2023-24 and 2024-25. She coached 27 all-conference selections, two NEHC Rookie of the Year recipients and Livia Brooks became the first player in program history to win NEHC Player and Rookie of the Year honors in 2023-24. Over Willard’s four seasons, the Cadets were either ranked or receiving votes in all but two USCHO Division III Top-15 Women's Polls. In 2024-25, Norwich won the NEHC regular season title before falling in the conference championship game. Willard guided the team’s defense that ranked ninth nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 1.19 goals per game and was second in the country with 11 shutouts. She also led the Cadets’ penalty-killing unit that killed penalties at a 92.9-percent success rate. Norwich won the NEHC regular season championship in 2023-24 behind a 15-2-1 conference record. Willard’s penalty killers set a program record by killing 95.3-percent of penalties, which led the entire nation. The scoring defense was second in the country, allowing less than a goal per game (0.93) and re