SOUTH ORANGE, NJ – It wasn’t a surprise that coach Shane Holloway got the head coaching job at Seton Hall.
The Buccaneer’s career aids captain and star of the college training scene after taking Cinderella St Peter into the Elite Eight, and he was the only person he considered athletic director Brian Felt after Kevin Willard left for work in Maryland 10 days earlier.
If there was any surprise on Thursday as Holloway was introduced to a small Walsh Gymnasium crowd of about 1,000 people, 15 players from rookie Saint Peter were among the crowd applauding him.
“It says a lot about Shaheen,” Felt said of the Peacocks being there to celebrate their former coach. “It says a lot about it. It says a lot. What it pours in, it comes back.”
This is the second time he has rented a Holloway villa. He was the athletic director at St. Peter’s when Holloway was hired in 2018. Felt took the Seton Hall job in 2019 and hired Holloway again on Wednesday.
The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Peacock became the first 15th seed to reach the Elite Eight. They were held up to the Final Four on Sunday in a 69-49 loss to North Carolina.
“I wouldn’t be here without these fifteen guys,” Holloway said shortly after his introduction. It was this remark that provoked the second of three standing applause the peacock received. The first was when they entered.
Holloway said he spoke with Peacock for three hours Wednesday, before Seton Hall announced his appointment. He said it was very difficult to leave the program that he led for four seasons. He said the players made it easy for him, even harassing the 45-year-old, who spent eight seasons as an assistant coach for hacking.
In Willard’s replacement, Holloway takes charge of the Big East program that has featured in five of the past six NCAA tournaments. It would have been six out of seven if the pandemic had not canceled the 2020 event.
Holloway, whose Peacocks beat Kentucky, Murray State and Purdue in the NCAA Championships, said he would return St. Peter to the Buccaneers team table after a four-year absence. He also went out of his way to say how important it was for him to have the job.
“I can’t screw this up, and I won’t screw this up,” he said. “When you’re at home, it’s so important. It’s a difference. It’s a big difference, like more time, more effort, more sweat, more tears. That’s all for a chance to train at my university. I”m You won’t spoil this opportunity.”
Holloway said he toured Walsh Gym on Wednesday night and brought back a lot of memories.
He said, “I am blessed, I am humble.” “It’s unbelievable to me,” Holloway said.
Holloway said he has felt exhausted and drained for the past two weeks. The emotional burden peaked on Sunday when his grandmother, Dorothy Holloway, passed away. I raised it.
She tells him that she wants to be buried in Seton Hall and Holloway will try to fulfill her wish.
His wish is to improve the hacker program.
“I want to take it to the next level, you always want to take it to the next level,” Holloway said. “This will be hard work. It will be difficult.”
Looking at the Seton Hall players in the audience, Holloway told them to get ready for action.
Seton Hall Jr., striker Therese Samuel He’s probably the most talked about coach in the country right now, Holloway said, and he’s looking forward to working with him. He added that Holloway’s success would put pressure on the pirates.
“Oh yeah,” Samuel said. “I think as a player, I think you want to keep going where you left off. You know, he’s taken a great team, Saint Peter, into the Elite Eight and he’s coming here to try to do the same. There is no time to rest.”
Holloway said he hopes to have a say in finding his replacement at St Peter’s, but added that athletic director Rachel Ball would do well.
peacock guard Doug Edert – His signature moustache – was happy to see Holloway rewarded. Holloway potentially earns approximately $2.5 million a year at Seton Hall, nearly 10 times what he earned at the Jesuit Seminary in Jersey City, New Jersey, less than 20 miles away.
“We’re all so happy for him and everything he’s done,” Edert said. “It is a nice.”
This is how Holloway described his return to Seton Hall.
Holloway was a standout star for four years at Seton Hall from 1996 to 2000 and helped lead the team to Sweet 16 in 2000. He took the win in overtime to defeat Oregon in the first round. He was inducted into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012.