PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
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Trove: Before we jump into the current college basketball landscape and the 2022 Seton Hall team, I wanted to get your thoughts on the previous regime and Kevin Willard’s more than decade long tenure. Obviously, he came in with the program in rough shape, but I think it’s pretty apparent that he left the program in much better shape than he received it.
Jay Gomes: No question. Seton Hall has a great fan base, but a small fan base, let’s be honest. It’s hard competing with the big boys as a small private school Catholic school when there's so many more resources to go around at many other schools. Regardless, he did a great job. The last several years they were really a perennial NCAA tournament team or at the very least on the bubble. That's where you want your program to be, where every year you’re playing in March for championships and in the big Dance. He really built the program back and did a great job overall.
Trove: Certainly. His team’s winning a regular season and a Big East tournament championship is something that, I think, all Seton Hall fans would have signed up for in a heartbeat when Willard was brought in.
Gomes: Without a doubt. In the history of Seton Hall basketball, he is in the top two or three coaches, for sure. I mean, he didn't have the great national championship run that P.J. had, but he had a longer stretch there and a successful stretch where he's right up there with the best coaches in Pirate history.
