Connor was a walkon for the team in the 2012/13 season
In that year Shaheen Holloway was an assistant coach. Connor, who is a Trove member, sent me this email yesterday with permission to post it here.
Hey Dan,
Crazy week - especially for you on Pirate Hoops! I know there is a lot of excitement and chat regarding Sha as the next coach for SHU. I want to add to that excitement based on my team at SHU as a walk-on.
I was just a walk-on, but Sha demanded excellence and hard work from everybody! Most of my time was spent on the scout team, so as you can imagine, I spent a lot of time with Sha running plays and scouting for the opponent.
Sha demanded that I knew the opponent's point guard's habits/plays, as if I was on the opposing team. I can't remember which game it was, but we were on Christmas break (players went home, I was local anyway) and Sha called me on Christmas morning to scout a team we were playing after the break, probably a week later. I remember being in the gym with Sha and a manager at probably 7am Christmas morning putting in work. Dedicated.
He also gave me a defined role within the team. My job was to get sit out transfer Sterling Gibbs better each day by making his life hard. Sha would make Sterling and I stay after practice for hours working on drills, playing 1 on 1, etc.. He would make me play over the top defense on Sterling (hacking him every time) to get him used to playing through contact. I am still close with Sterling and we laugh about it to this day about what Sha put us through.
I am thrilled to watch Coach Sha take over SHU hoops. I have tons of stories- and my point to this e-mail is that Sha made a major impact on my life...as a player that knew I would never see the court.
Let's go Pirates!!
Connor Laverty
In that year Shaheen Holloway was an assistant coach. Connor, who is a Trove member, sent me this email yesterday with permission to post it here.
Hey Dan,
Crazy week - especially for you on Pirate Hoops! I know there is a lot of excitement and chat regarding Sha as the next coach for SHU. I want to add to that excitement based on my team at SHU as a walk-on.
I was just a walk-on, but Sha demanded excellence and hard work from everybody! Most of my time was spent on the scout team, so as you can imagine, I spent a lot of time with Sha running plays and scouting for the opponent.
Sha demanded that I knew the opponent's point guard's habits/plays, as if I was on the opposing team. I can't remember which game it was, but we were on Christmas break (players went home, I was local anyway) and Sha called me on Christmas morning to scout a team we were playing after the break, probably a week later. I remember being in the gym with Sha and a manager at probably 7am Christmas morning putting in work. Dedicated.
He also gave me a defined role within the team. My job was to get sit out transfer Sterling Gibbs better each day by making his life hard. Sha would make Sterling and I stay after practice for hours working on drills, playing 1 on 1, etc.. He would make me play over the top defense on Sterling (hacking him every time) to get him used to playing through contact. I am still close with Sterling and we laugh about it to this day about what Sha put us through.
I am thrilled to watch Coach Sha take over SHU hoops. I have tons of stories- and my point to this e-mail is that Sha made a major impact on my life...as a player that knew I would never see the court.
Let's go Pirates!!
Connor Laverty
