SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — That coach Shaheen Holloway got the job as head coach at Seton Hall came as no surprise at all.
The Pirates’ career supports the leader and star of the college coaching scene after he got Cinderella Saint Peter’s into the Elite Eight. He was the only person athletic director Bryan Felt considered after Kevin Willard left for the Maryland job 10 days ago.
If there was a surprise Thursday when Holloway was introduced to a tiny crowd of about 1,000 people at Walsh High School, the 15 players on his junior Saint Peter’s team were in the audience to applaud him.
“That says a lot about Shaheen,” Felt said of the Peacocks’ attendance to celebrate their former coach. “It says a lot about him. It says a lot. What he puts in, he gets back.”
This was the second time Felt hired Holloway. He was Saint Peter’s athletic director when Holloway was hired in 2018. Felt took over the job at Seton Hall in 2019 and hired Holloway again on Wednesday.
The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Peacocks reached the Elite Eight as the first No. 15. Their run to the Final Four was halted with a 69-49 loss to North Carolina on Sunday.
“I wouldn’t be up here without these 15 young men,” Holloway said shortly after the performance. It was a remark that drew the second of three standing ovations the Peacocks received. The first was when they came in.
Holloway said he spoke with the Peacocks for three hours on Wednesday, just before Seton Hall announced his hiring. He said it was extremely difficult to leave the program he managed for four seasons. He said the players made it easy for him, even teasing the 45-year-old, who spent eight seasons as the Pirates’ assistant coach.
As a replacement for Willard, Holloway is taking on a Big East program that has competed in five of the last six NCAA tournaments. It would have been six out of seven if the pandemic hadn’t canceled the 2020 event.
Holloway, whose Peacocks defeated Kentucky, Murray State and Purdue in the NCAA tournament, said he will put Saint Peter’s back on the Pirates’ roster after a four-year absence. He also went out of his way to say how important it was for him to get the job.
“I can’t screw this up and I’m not going to screw this up,” he said. “When you’re home, it matters too much. It’s a difference. It’s a big difference, like you put in more time, more effort, more sweat and more tears. That’s all to get an opportunity to to coach my alma mater. I’m not going to blow this opportunity.”
Holloway said he walked around Walsh Gym on Wednesday night and it brought back a lot of memories.
“I’m blessed, I’m humbled,” he said. “It’s incredible for me,” Holloway said.
Holloway said he’s felt drained and drained for the past two weeks. The emotional strain peaked on Sunday when his grandmother, Dorothy Holloway, died. She raised him.
She had told him that she wanted to be buried at Seton Hall and that Holloway would try to grant her wish.
His wish is to improve the pirate program.
“I want to take it to the next level, you always want to take it to the next level,” Holloway said. “It’s going to be hard work. It’s going to be tough.”
Looking at the Seton Hall players in the audience, Holloway told them to get ready for work.
Seton Hall junior forward Tyrese Samuel said Holloway is probably the most talked-about coach in the country right now and he’s looking forward to working with him. He added that Holloway’s success will put pressure on the pirates.
“Oh yes,” said Samuel. “I think as a player you just want to pick up where you left off. You know, he brought a great team, Saint Peter’s, into the Elite Eight and he comes here trying to do the same. There is no time to rest.”
Holloway said he hopes to have a say in finding his replacement at Saint Peter, but added that athletic director Rachelle Paul will do a good job.
Peacocks guard Doug Edert – with his distinctive mustache – was delighted with Holloway’s reward. Holloway is likely to make nearly $2.5 million annually at Seton Hall, about 10 times what he made at the Jesuit school in Jersey City, New Jersey, less than 20 miles away.
“We are all happy for him and everything he has done,” said Edert. “It is great.”
This is how Holloway described the return to Seton Hall.
Holloway was a standout at Seton Hall for four years from 1996–00 and helped guide the team to the Sweet 16 in 2000. In overtime, he hit the game-winning layup to defeat Oregon in the first round. In 2012, he was inducted into the School of Athletics Hall of Fame.