PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
The definitive source for all PirateCrew news.
By JP Pelzman
Bryan Felt knew the question was coming. After all, he probably has been asked about the subject more often than Jared Rhoden has shot mid-range jumpers in practice.
“I don’t know if there’s a day when I don’t talk about NILs,” Felt said when asked about Name, Image and Likeness. “A good 25% of my day is talking about NILs, if not more.”
That’s not surprising, considering NILs have become a hot-button issue for student-athletes looking for the best endorsement opportunities.
“This is an evolving thing that we’re all trying to get our hands around,” Felt said. “And it sometimes feels like it changes daily.”
What makes it even more difficult, Felt noted, are the state of New Jersey’s laws governing NILs, which aren’t as lenient as those of other states.
“New Jersey does have some of the more restrictive language,” Felt said in an exclusive interview with Pirate Crew. “It's not a level playing field. … I think it’s going to change in New Jersey.”
But for now, he says, “I think people have to realize that New Jersey” has restrictive laws for NILs.
Felt noted that, “We can’t induce deals for our student-athletes.”
In other words, Seton Hall can advise the players about their options, but cannot actually broker deals for them.
Thus, members of the fan base interested in approaching Seton Hall players for potential NIL deals must reach out directly to the student-athletes.
Once they do, Felt said, the school can “Provide (the student-athletes) the guidance, provide them the education. I'm pleased with that because we’ve seen that our student-athletes can get NIL deals. We're in the largest media market in the world. Certainly that's been a benefit to them.”
He added, “I think you’re going to see more things on our end as we progress through this and yes, it’s a process.”
A source indicated that new men’s basketball coach Shaheen Holloway is aware of the importance of NIL, but also is quite aware of the restrictive state rules thanks to his time at Saint Peter’s.
As for Holloway's transition, Felt said, “We're near the end of it but he does have a lot of guys here and working for him, which has been good.”
In other words, he isn’t worried about the third assistant coach situation.
How about a way-too-early assessment for 2022-23?
“We've got to wait to see how some things play out,” Felt replied. “He's certainly been incredibly on the recruiting trail. That’s Shaheen. He loves to recruit. We talk about it all the time. The expectations are going to be pretty big just based on what he’s coming off of. I don’t know how fair those expectations will be.”
Felt also gave his views on a variety of topics.
On former coach Kevin Willard: “Kevin Willard did one heck of a job here. He will always be remembered for that. He will always be appreciated for that. Kevin will always be aa part of this family and a part of the history of Seton Hall and as an alum and someone who’s known him as a friend of his, I'm truly appreciative of everything Kevin did for Seton Hall in his 12 years here.
On the women’s basketball team’s run to the WNIT final:
“The goal certainly is always to make the NCAA Tournament, but it’s an amazing opportunity for your student-athletes when you can have an NIT or WNIT to compete in. They stayed determined.
“They were playing some tremendous basketball, the way they finished the Big East season. … They said our goal is to go in there and to win it (the WNIT). … I'm incredibly proud of them and I think they’re going to have a really good team again next year.”
On Jay Judge, his successor in charge of Pirate Blue: He understands relationships better than anybody. He's such an enjoyable, likeable person to know. … I fully believe he’ll be a great athletic director one day.”
On the redone Walsh Gym: “It's a fabulous facility. It has such tradition to it, but I think the updates have gone a long way.
“It's been really well-received.”
On Seton Hall President Dr. Joseph Nyre: “He's done an amazing job in terms of building our strategic plan and where we want to go and how we want to move forward. I couldn’t ask for a better situation than with Dr. Nyre and Pat Lyons at the helm."
Lastly, it all comes down to Holloway. When they finally got to talking contract terms, Felt said the coach told the AD, “This is where I want to be. This is the home team. This is my squad. This is my place.
“(Sha) wouldn’t want to be anywhere else and I feel the same way. It means a great deal and I think loyalty goes hand in hand with everything Sha represents.”
Thus, Felt’s message to the Seton Hall community is: “Get involved now. Be excited because what we’re doing here is incredibly special. We're really excited to have him on board. We're excited for our fan base to be involved with this. It’s been a successful program for many years and I think we’re really excited to take it to another level.
“And I know it’s going to excite New Jersey. It’s going to excite our fan base in the area. It's going to excite our alumni across the country,” he added.
Felt added, “It's not going to be easy. We’ve got a lot of work to do, and Sha would be the first to tell you that, but there’s a great excitement around our program right now. He helps bring that. Our fan base helps bring that and we marry that together and I think we're well on our way."
