PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
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Zack Cziryak
Trove Correspondent
What are your broad-brush thoughts on the state of the Seton Hall basketball program in early June 2023?
"Let me start by saying this is a time for patience and I know people don’t want to hear it. Everything that we discuss has to be looked through the lens of when you have so many changes happening in the landscape and a turnover in a head coach, there's going to be some patience required. It's a feeling out process for me too. I'm learning as I go in dealing with Shaheen and this new landscape. I counsel myself the same thing, which is you have to have patience and see how everything shakes out."
You've covered Shaheen Holloway for a long time in various capacities. What has it been like to cover him in the last year and a half or so? What's surprised you and what is what you expected in covering him as the head coach of the Pirates?
"It's been different. Of course. I've always had a good relationship with Sha. I was really one of the only media members who would drop in occasionally at Saint Peter's to write about him once a year there, his progress. I showed up when he was first introduced. And then obviously I covered him extensively in March of 2022 when he won the MAAC and went on that incredible, all-time NCAA tournament run. And so, I know him well. I think highly of him as a person and as a coach. And I feel like I'm qualified to say that it's been a difficult adjustment to coaching at the high major level for Sha. I think he would tell you that.
There's a lot involved that wasn't the case at Saint Peter's. The scope is much bigger in terms of the public face of the job, media, dealing with fans and alumni and donors and boosters and also the type of player you have or want to get and the people around them. It's just much different. When Sha was at Saint Peter's, the guys that he had there were all last chance, grinder-type of guys. This was their chance to play Division I basketball and they had to work their butts off just to stay in that foothold. I think that kind of fits with his mentality, Sha really identified with that type of player."
"And so, this is much different now. You're dealing with higher-profile players who believe they're going to play in the NBA and their people think they're going to play in the NBA, and they want certain things that might not be compatible for a team's success. Not that Sha didn't have that experience at Seton Hall the first time, he did when he was Kevin Willard's right-hand man, but when you combine that with him now making final decisions on personnel matters, and then the new landscape that has sort of accelerated that 'I'm going to get mine' attitude among this high major-type player, that's been a lot for him, and I think it's kind of been a shock to the system, to be honest.”
What were your thoughts on the job he did in his first year at the helm?
"On the court, getting Seton Hall to 10-10 in the Big East, getting them into the NIT, having them competitive most games while throwing together a roster in a new situation with new rules - I thought he did pretty well. He did a decent, solid job the first year as a head coach as far as the basketball was concerned.”
“As far as roster management, dealing with players, dealing with the media and the fans and the public face of the job and of course all the NIL stuff we're going to get into, there's a lot of room for growth, that's another way of saying room for improvement for Shaheen. And so yeah, year one was a really mixed bag for him in this regard. He has some work to do in these areas. But he's a survivor; he's always kind of figured it out. So you would think that he'll learn. But going back to your first question, I would say it was much different dealing with him as the Hall's head coach, from my perspective, than he was an assistant or even when he was coaching at Saint Peter's."
Your relationship as a reporter and head coach, what was that like?
"There was somewhat of a tug of war between me and Shaheen as far as access, what access was going to be like. I feel like we didn't get enough access preseason-wise. I only saw the team one time before the ball went up in November That's pretty much unheard of for me, other than the first COVID season where nobody saw anybody, I had always seen the team two or three times under Kevin Willard before the season started. That was really unfortunate, and it wasn't for lack of trying. I thought that was a big opportunity missed for us to get to know Sha in that capacity and see the team and sort of get a comfort level going. And, you know, part of Sha's rationale for that was he had a lot of players injured. We'll see what happens this time around; hopefully it changes."
"And then once the season started, we really didn't get much access to the players. We were never at practice. We could get Shaheen on the phone. It wasn't always easy, but when we got him, he was good. When you can get him, he was terrific. He's got a magnetic personality. He has a lot of charm. He's a thoughtful guy and he speaks his mind, which is what you want as a reporter, but it wasn't always that easy to get him on the phone. After the games, it was status quo from Kevin Willard as far as access to the players and Sha. But there were times when Sha would push back against stuff that was asked whereas Kevin really didn't do that - that was different and took some getting used to."
The biggest issue was there were times I wanted to do features on players, and I couldn't. For example, I wanted to do a big Tyrese Samuel senior day feature because he put in four years of good service to the program. He's a good guy, represented Seton Hall well, got his degree, did well in the classroom. I wanted to give him a Senior Day tribute feature and I couldn't ... and then he left ... it never happened. We didn't get to do the proper send off for him that I like to do for these seniors who really become face of the program-type of guys. Sha said no."
Just from my perspective now, these are program management-type areas with the media that I'm hoping after Year 1 that we can improve on. It's not that unusual for things to be rocky in Year 1. Kevin Willard was pretty bad with us his first couple of years. And then over time as he got comfortable and understood what it took to run a high major program he got better, and things improved to the point where they were pretty good media-wise... So I expect that to be the case with Sha. As with a lot of other areas of running the program, I'm not too concerned that it's a harbinger for the future. My expectation is that it'll iron itself out.”
You've touched on things that need to be or can be improved upon or grown from. What should be the chief thing that can be improved upon from where you’re sitting?
First of all, I want to say I think Sha can coach the sport. He's very good at getting his teams to play hard and defend well. And he has a good eye for fit and talent. He has a system in mind. He's got an identity he wants. What he did at Saint Peter's is extraordinary. Forget the three NCAA Tournament wins - that was obviously an all-time accomplishment, but to get Saint Peter's to three winning seasons in a row, to finish second, third and second in the league in his years two, three and four there was pretty much unheard of there. On the court at Seton Hall I like what I saw from him coaching wise. Some of his player rotations were a little bit head scratching because he wants to play ten guys and rotate guys in and out and keep legs fresh. But he had a short rotation because of injuries. So, I think some of that was him trying to figure that out.”
“Off the court is where his learning curve is still developing. Putting a roster together now is totally different than it was five years ago or two years ago. So, he has to figure that out on the fly as a new high-major head coach, and not all that's within his control because of Seton Hall's financial situation, which we'll get into. And then they have a practice facility that he's been deeply involved in redesigning. Plus, the way he manages players. Can he coach these guys the way he coached Saint Peter's players, pushing them so hard, being that tough love old school guy? I don't know that it's going to work for everybody, especially when they can walk out the door in March. All these high major players have all these people in their ear and suddenly all these options. Steve Pikiell, who is more experienced at this and has a strong personal rapport with his players, nearly had every one of them enter the portal this spring at one point or another. Derek Simpson might have been the only guy who didn't have a foot in the portal at one point. That's how hard it is to retain guys. So Sha's got to figure out what kind of buttons he can push. He'll figure it out I think, but that's all part of what's gone on this first year."
Part 2 to follow
