Stars align as Holloway comes home to The Hall

Shaheen Holloway is introduced Tuesday as head coach at Seton Hall after taking Saint Peter’s to Elite 8. (Photo by Seton Hall Athletics)

By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. — First off, a brief history lesson.

March 31, 2010 was a big day in the history of Seton Hall basketball. At historic Walsh Gymnasium, a press conference was called to introduce new head coaches Kevin Willard and the late Anne Donovan to lead the men's and women's basketball programs. A dais was set up around midcourt, with a few rows of seating for members of the attending media.

Both programs were in need of a change, with the men's program having just been rocked by the utter tumult that was the end of Bobby Gonzalez's tenure as coach, and the women's program having sunk to the bottom of the Big East. I was a student media attendee at that press conference, and I came away thinking that both programs were in good hands.

I was correct. Under Donovan, there came an infusion of talent the women's team had lacked in the past few years, and while the Hall of Famer was not around to see it flourish, it did so in spades under Tony Bozzella, a Seton Hall alum whose passion runs deep (sound familiar?) and who has since made the Pirates a fixture in the postseason. And, of course, for the men's program under Willard, it took a little more time, but the Pirates also regained their reputation, then got that same infusion of talent, and then started winning and making themselves a March regular as well.

Fast forward exactly 12 years later, and there comes another press conference at Walsh Gymnasium, but a newly renovated version. There is a dais set up, but in front of the stage at the east end of the gym, with many more rows of seating set up, many more media in attendance, and several hundred Pirate fans joining them. It was quite a scene that illustrated how far things have come in the last decade for Seton Hall.

It had been one of the worst-kept secrets in college basketball that Shaheen Holloway was going to succeed his mentor Willard as the head coach of the Pirates. I mean, it seemed like it was destiny. When you looked at his resume, Holloway checked off numerous boxes. To wit:

— A former star player for the Pirates who led them to their last Sweet 16 in 2000.

— A proven recruiter with deep ties to the New York/New Jersey area who was Willard's right-hand man for eight seasons and who played a large role in bringing some of the Pirates' best players in the last decade.

— A charismatic coach who could turn on the charm just as easily as he could turn up the heat on the sidelines while coaching his team, who was given his first shot at Saint Peter's by athletic director Bryan Felt, who is now Seton Hall's AD.

— A favorite son of Seton Hall fans everywhere, who met his wife, Kim, while they were students in South Orange. His daughter, Shatanik, is also a Seton Hall alum, and his son, Xavier, is named after the dormitory in the center of campus where he and Kim met.

And that list doesn't even take into consideration the fact that his Peacocks became the all-time Cinderella team in the NCAA Tournament, capturing national attention by beating Kentucky, Murray State, and Purdue to reach the Elite 8, making Holloway one of the hottest names in the business. 

Bringing in a former great player to be a coach is usually a road fraught with difficulties. It didn't work with Chris Mullin at St. John's, or Eddie Jordan at Rutgers, just to name two examples. But this feels different. Mullin had never coached anywhere before going back to Queens, and Jordan had had success in the pro ranks, but never coached in college. For all the reasons listed above, Holloway's hiring has been universally praised from all sides, and rightfully so. There aren't too many instances where a coaching hire feels like this much of a slam dunk. And instead of a program in need of resurrection as it was when his mentor was hired, Holloway comes in poised to take his alma mater to new heights. 

In short, I feel the same way I felt when walking out of Walsh Gym 12 years ago today, that Seton Hall has hired the right person for the job, maybe even the most right person for the job. With Willard back in 2010, there was a need to get to know the former Rick Pitino protege. With Holloway, everyone knows who he is, what he's about, and what he can do.

Case in point: What outgoing head coach has his entire roster come out to celebrate him getting a new job? The Saint Peter's men's basketball team was also in South Orange today to support Holloway, and they received a standing ovation from the fans for what they had accomplished in the Big Dance. Ever gracious and loyal, Holloway made sure that they received a large amount of credit for helping him get to where he stood on the stage today.

And I get a sense there will be a lot more such ovations for Shaheen Holloway before all is said and done.