I am going to post this piecemeal for now. There is a problem that JP and I are working on.
setonhall.rivals.com
Here is part 2 of my three-part interview with broadcaster John Fanta. We discuss Shaheen Holloway’s incredible run to the Elite Eight, his desire to take his alma mater to similar heights, and the prospects for his first Seton Hall team as head coach. I also asked John about his dealings with Holloway’s predecessor, Kevin Willard, and who he thinks can best take on the mantle of the face of the conference now that Villanova coach Jay Wright has retired.
J.P. Pelzman: You had an interesting relationship with Kevin Willard. What was it like covering him, first as an undergrad and then as a professional?
John Fanta: It was a fascinating experience that taught me a lot about how you cover a program, a coach and student-athletes in college basketball. I learned a lot from Kevin because when I was a student, he was right in the thick of his tenure and I got to watch and cover him when he was at his lowest point, in the 2014-15 season, but I also got to cover him when he took the program from the basement to the rooftop of the Big East. And what I would say about Kevin Willard is, as a reporter and a broadcaster for the student media outlets, I always tried to cover him and his program fairly and he was always accommodating to me in giving me time and giving me that access.
But I will say you learn a lot about somebody when they’re at a tougher time and J.P., you were there and you know about this, Kevin never said ‘oh, it’s the freshmen, or it’s this guy’s fault or it’s that guy’s fault,’ he took accountability. He put it on himself. He said he needs to be better and I always felt that the way he represented himself in those types of moments, and the way he built the program back up, was really impressive. Because let’s face it, there was a lot of pressure. And what he did was he went back to his roots. He got comfortable in his own skin.
It was amazing to cover because you saw something go from the bottom all the way back up in the matter of a year, and we got to experience the ride of that 2015-16 season, and it was a ride that kept ascending and ascending and ascending. They kept winning. They had a style. What I think of, when I think of the Kevin Willard era, was and is, he’s taken this program from having no direction, to being a program of direction and culture and an idea of you’re going to walk into the university and you’re going to come out of it a better player and person. And you’re going to work hard. There's a fit at Seton Hall, so much so that the man who steps in now understands that fit because he lived that DNA himself.
The best that the program has had to offer over the course of its history has just been reflected over the course of the last six or seven years of Seton Hall basketball. It's a brand of basketball that anybody associated with the program would be proud of. And I think covering Kevin closely, I'm sad to see him go because I've enjoyed it, but I think it’s very reflective of who he strives to be because he wanted to leave the program in a better situation than where he found it. And you can say that tenfold and I think it’s the ultimate reflection on him and what he did that the guy who was his right-hand man for much of that success is now the head coach of the program.
That was cool and was what I got to witness and on a personal level, I'm thankful to Kevin because throughout all our hilarity, and people enjoyed our interviews because they had a lot of humor and they had a lot of satire, I appreciated the fact that he was willing to open up to me when he might not have been willing to open up to everybody. That’s something that I will be forever grateful for and I will say this--early in my career, he has always been a guy who would talk to other coaches and speak highly of me, and I'm indebted to him for that. Because when you’re a young guy coming up in this industry, it comes down to relationships. You need people to be comfortable with you, especially people who don’t know you as well.
There was a time when I didn’t know you as well, J.P., but you became more comfortable with me because you said, I can trust this person. Well, Coach always trusted me and I appreciated that because it made me feel more comfortable in my own skin.
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Here is part 2 of my three-part interview with broadcaster John Fanta. We discuss Shaheen Holloway’s incredible run to the Elite Eight, his desire to take his alma mater to similar heights, and the prospects for his first Seton Hall team as head coach. I also asked John about his dealings with Holloway’s predecessor, Kevin Willard, and who he thinks can best take on the mantle of the face of the conference now that Villanova coach Jay Wright has retired.
J.P. Pelzman: You had an interesting relationship with Kevin Willard. What was it like covering him, first as an undergrad and then as a professional?
John Fanta: It was a fascinating experience that taught me a lot about how you cover a program, a coach and student-athletes in college basketball. I learned a lot from Kevin because when I was a student, he was right in the thick of his tenure and I got to watch and cover him when he was at his lowest point, in the 2014-15 season, but I also got to cover him when he took the program from the basement to the rooftop of the Big East. And what I would say about Kevin Willard is, as a reporter and a broadcaster for the student media outlets, I always tried to cover him and his program fairly and he was always accommodating to me in giving me time and giving me that access.
But I will say you learn a lot about somebody when they’re at a tougher time and J.P., you were there and you know about this, Kevin never said ‘oh, it’s the freshmen, or it’s this guy’s fault or it’s that guy’s fault,’ he took accountability. He put it on himself. He said he needs to be better and I always felt that the way he represented himself in those types of moments, and the way he built the program back up, was really impressive. Because let’s face it, there was a lot of pressure. And what he did was he went back to his roots. He got comfortable in his own skin.
It was amazing to cover because you saw something go from the bottom all the way back up in the matter of a year, and we got to experience the ride of that 2015-16 season, and it was a ride that kept ascending and ascending and ascending. They kept winning. They had a style. What I think of, when I think of the Kevin Willard era, was and is, he’s taken this program from having no direction, to being a program of direction and culture and an idea of you’re going to walk into the university and you’re going to come out of it a better player and person. And you’re going to work hard. There's a fit at Seton Hall, so much so that the man who steps in now understands that fit because he lived that DNA himself.
The best that the program has had to offer over the course of its history has just been reflected over the course of the last six or seven years of Seton Hall basketball. It's a brand of basketball that anybody associated with the program would be proud of. And I think covering Kevin closely, I'm sad to see him go because I've enjoyed it, but I think it’s very reflective of who he strives to be because he wanted to leave the program in a better situation than where he found it. And you can say that tenfold and I think it’s the ultimate reflection on him and what he did that the guy who was his right-hand man for much of that success is now the head coach of the program.
That was cool and was what I got to witness and on a personal level, I'm thankful to Kevin because throughout all our hilarity, and people enjoyed our interviews because they had a lot of humor and they had a lot of satire, I appreciated the fact that he was willing to open up to me when he might not have been willing to open up to everybody. That’s something that I will be forever grateful for and I will say this--early in my career, he has always been a guy who would talk to other coaches and speak highly of me, and I'm indebted to him for that. Because when you’re a young guy coming up in this industry, it comes down to relationships. You need people to be comfortable with you, especially people who don’t know you as well.
There was a time when I didn’t know you as well, J.P., but you became more comfortable with me because you said, I can trust this person. Well, Coach always trusted me and I appreciated that because it made me feel more comfortable in my own skin.
