PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
The definitive source for all PirateCrew news.
By Zack Cziryak
TROVE: John, thanks so much for joining us again this summer. You have been an MC/attended various Onward Setonia fundraising events. What do you feel has gone well at these events? Also, what do you feel needs to be improved upon to get more alumni involved?
FANTA: "I think that Onward Setonia has risen tremendously over the last year. I think that the growth of what Seton Hall is doing with NIL has been good over the last 12 months and I give Mike McBride, Michael Frungillo, and Mike Walsh a lot of credit for what they're doing. But we still have a lot to do and there's still things that have to be done. And I also want to say, in addition to Mike McBride, Michael Frungillo and Mike Walsh, I want to give Jim O'Brien credit for what he's doing as well in the NIL space. I think that there are people that have really stepped up to the plate in the last year and they realize that this is what college basketball is about right now. And either you're going to adapt and understand that's how you put together a competent Big East roster or you choose not to.
What I will say is this: folks who are considering whether or not to give or whether or not to get into the NIL space, there's never going to be a better time to do it and there's never going to be a better coach of the program to do it for. Shaheen Holloway is one of Seton Hall's own, and there's nobody with greater pride for the place than Sha. There's nobody that wants to win championships more at Seton Hall than Sha. There's nobody that wants to win the Big East more. There's nobody that wants to lead this program to a March Madness run more than Shaheen Holloway. And so for the people who might be questioning or thinking, ‘how do I do this,’ look: the student athletes deserve to get payment. They deserve to get paid, but you talk to any coach and they'll tell you right now life is difficult, it's complicated. So it's something that is complicated because you can't just choose not to champion NIL or not to propel NIL. Does it need fixing? Absolutely it needs some adjustment. But right now it's about being able to raise money.
And in terms of the Onward Setonia fundraising events, I was just part of a boat event last month. We had a great time. Coach [Sha] came on the boat, we did a Q&A at PJ Clarke's in New York City, and then we took the boat back. It was an awesome afternoon with terrific people and we talked Seton Hall basketball all afternoon and Coach Holloway could not have been more gracious with the people and his time. These events are exclusive events and there are more in the works. They provide a great way to interact with Coach and obviously when the student athletes are around to interact with the players. I think that the events themselves have been great. I think the way that we continue to build out these events is just to continue to find more and more people that are willing to hop aboard the ship, that are willing to hop aboard this wagon because there's no better time than the present. There's nothing that needs to be improved with the events themselves. I just think that it's our alumni base. I mean, I'm an alum and I care about this place. I care about Seton Hall as much as Coach Holloway does, as much as any passionate Pirate fan does. I do. I call games for Fox Sports and other entities so I have to take off that cap that wants the Pirates to do well when I'm calling a game and I have to balance that. But I've got a great amount of love and passion for the university, and I understand that right now these are dire times to be able to find NIL money.
What do I feel needs to be improved? Well, we just have to continue to get the message out. Every dollar counts. I'm a younger alum. I give what I can. I would encourage other young alums, whether you're for NIL or against it, do it for Coach Holloway. Do it for the men that represent this university. Do it because look what happened this past year - an NIT championship. That's worth celebrating. If we could win an NIT championship when our NIL is at this stage, think of what could happen when we get this NIL increased. We need all the help. There's no bad dollar. Every dollar counts and every effort counts in this. That would be my message with where we're at. I just think that for the future no idea is a bad idea right now. We're in an idea stage because that next idea could be the next great concept for us to take off and for us to find a differentiator...there's no bad ideas, and we need all the help that we can get right now. We need Seton Hall Nation, the Seton Hall community, to get behind this team and get behind the women's team because there's no time like the present and we have two great coaches in Shaheen Holloway and Tony Bozzella, who are winners.”
