This five part series will chronicle the past four years and will touch on the individual seasons following the commitments of Isaiah Whitehead and his fellow class of 2018 teammates.
At the conclusion of each season I will attach a grade for head coach Kevin Willard.
2016
Relevant Kenpom stats at the conclusion of the season
#29 Seton Hall (6 seed) BE 25-9 12-6
Conference-only offense 6th
Conference-only defense 2nd
3rd place league finish
Tournament champions
Lost in first round of the NCAA to Gonzaga, 68-52
Final RPI
# 23
After the disastrous ending to the 2015 season questions abound regarding the job status of Kevin Willard. Would he be fired? Would he leave for another job? Or would he be asked to return for a 6th year?
Shortly after the conclusion of the season word leaked that Willard through his associates got word out to Holy Cross that he might be interested in their vacant head coaching position. Willard as one would expect denied the rumor but there was much evidence behind the scenes to the contrary.
Regardless, the point became moot shortly thereafter when Willard and Seton Hall AD Pat Lyons had a sit down to discuss the programs future. At that meeting, since confirmed by Willard, he told his AD that he was all in with his current group believing that the prior season was a misstep and given one more chance he would reach a level of success that Seton Hall has not seen in quite some time.
He told that to Lyons knowing that one more year of poor results would lead to his dismissal.
Lyons, who was Willard's AD at Iona where Willard cut his teeth as a D1 head coach heard what he wanted to hear and did not hesitate in giving Willard the extra season he so badly wanted.
Music to the ears of many at the Hall who came to like and respect Willard. But not so with the fan base disappointed with the coaches results to date, which included just 1 NIT trip, an overall record of 82-80, 30-60 in conference, and a best 7th place finish in conference. Numbers that would easily justify any high major D1 coach being fired.
Fortunately it would get better for the Hall, much, much better. But before that happened it got worse.
Leading scorer junior Sterling Gibbs, despite informing the school he would not leave as a graduate transfers did just that a couple of weeks later departing for the University of Connecticut to play for then coach Kevin Ollie. The news at the time seemed to be another nail in the coffin for Willard. But to his credit the Seton Hall coach rebounded well accepting a grad transfer in his own right, Derrick Gordon.
At the time losing Gibbs and gaining the 6-3 guard seemed like a major blow to the Hall, but as it turned out nothing could have been further from the truth.
Gordon was not the on court talent that Gibbs was, but he fortified a questionable locker room with his strong leadership skills and never say die attitude. Something that was sorely missing one year prior.
The fact that Gordon was also a lock down defender greatly helped as noted by the above Kenpom stats rating the Pirates as the second most efficient defensive team in the league.
The parts were beginning to fit, especially with a now set rotation featuring star recruit Isaiah Whitehead joining his good friend Khadeen Carrington in the starting backcourt, fortified by Desi Rodriquez now at his more natural SF spot, Ish Sanogo back in the picture as the starting 4 and the rock solid Angel Delgado manning the middle.
What seemed so desperate just just 8 months ago now skewed in a polar opposite direction. There was hope and it was legitimate.
As they did in 2015 Seton Hall came out of the gate on fire. To the tune of 12-2, 2-0 in conference, making Pat Lyon look like a genius for taking a final chance on his embattled coach. The hot seat was beginning to cool.
But then as it did the previous season the Hall hit a major bump in the road losing 4 of their next 5 games and visions of the 2015 collapse danced in the heads of all Pirate fans.
Willard to his credit stood firm confidently predicting that this team was different and what happened the year past would not happen again.
Coaches speak from a man desperately trying to hold on to his job? Many thought so but as the remainder of the regular season played out his words were prophetic. The Pirates concluded the season winning 9 of their last 11 games finishing 3rd in the league with a 12-6 mark.
Great numbers, but the best was yet to come.
The Big East tournament followed the Hall's blazing end to the regular season and the hope was that the Pirate would make a good showing and fortify their first invite to the NCAA Tournament since the days of Louis Orr.
Box checked. The Hall did that and so much more. In a three day span Seton Hall beat Creighton and then two top five teams in Xavier and Nova, the latter in a nationally televised game that rocked the Garden to its rafters.
Willard had made good his promise to Lyons taking the Hall to heights that even he did not imagine on his way to being named conference Co-COY with Villanova's Jay Wright.
The Hall was back.
Unfortunately there would be no more highlights as Seton Hall physically and more importantly mentally exhausted had to play a vastly under-seeded Gonzaga team out west five days later falling by the score of 68-52. But that did not in any way tarnish what these Pirates led by Isaiah Whitehead accomplished down the stretch.
Seton Hall was indeed back on the basketball map and the decision made so many months prior in the office of Pat Lyons pay dividends that even he could not have imagined.
Kevin Willard's 2016 season grade: A
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
COMMENTS
At the conclusion of each season I will attach a grade for head coach Kevin Willard.
2016
Relevant Kenpom stats at the conclusion of the season
#29 Seton Hall (6 seed) BE 25-9 12-6
Conference-only offense 6th
Conference-only defense 2nd
3rd place league finish
Tournament champions
Lost in first round of the NCAA to Gonzaga, 68-52
Final RPI
# 23
After the disastrous ending to the 2015 season questions abound regarding the job status of Kevin Willard. Would he be fired? Would he leave for another job? Or would he be asked to return for a 6th year?
Shortly after the conclusion of the season word leaked that Willard through his associates got word out to Holy Cross that he might be interested in their vacant head coaching position. Willard as one would expect denied the rumor but there was much evidence behind the scenes to the contrary.
Regardless, the point became moot shortly thereafter when Willard and Seton Hall AD Pat Lyons had a sit down to discuss the programs future. At that meeting, since confirmed by Willard, he told his AD that he was all in with his current group believing that the prior season was a misstep and given one more chance he would reach a level of success that Seton Hall has not seen in quite some time.
He told that to Lyons knowing that one more year of poor results would lead to his dismissal.
Lyons, who was Willard's AD at Iona where Willard cut his teeth as a D1 head coach heard what he wanted to hear and did not hesitate in giving Willard the extra season he so badly wanted.
Music to the ears of many at the Hall who came to like and respect Willard. But not so with the fan base disappointed with the coaches results to date, which included just 1 NIT trip, an overall record of 82-80, 30-60 in conference, and a best 7th place finish in conference. Numbers that would easily justify any high major D1 coach being fired.
Fortunately it would get better for the Hall, much, much better. But before that happened it got worse.
Leading scorer junior Sterling Gibbs, despite informing the school he would not leave as a graduate transfers did just that a couple of weeks later departing for the University of Connecticut to play for then coach Kevin Ollie. The news at the time seemed to be another nail in the coffin for Willard. But to his credit the Seton Hall coach rebounded well accepting a grad transfer in his own right, Derrick Gordon.
At the time losing Gibbs and gaining the 6-3 guard seemed like a major blow to the Hall, but as it turned out nothing could have been further from the truth.
Gordon was not the on court talent that Gibbs was, but he fortified a questionable locker room with his strong leadership skills and never say die attitude. Something that was sorely missing one year prior.
The fact that Gordon was also a lock down defender greatly helped as noted by the above Kenpom stats rating the Pirates as the second most efficient defensive team in the league.
The parts were beginning to fit, especially with a now set rotation featuring star recruit Isaiah Whitehead joining his good friend Khadeen Carrington in the starting backcourt, fortified by Desi Rodriquez now at his more natural SF spot, Ish Sanogo back in the picture as the starting 4 and the rock solid Angel Delgado manning the middle.
What seemed so desperate just just 8 months ago now skewed in a polar opposite direction. There was hope and it was legitimate.
As they did in 2015 Seton Hall came out of the gate on fire. To the tune of 12-2, 2-0 in conference, making Pat Lyon look like a genius for taking a final chance on his embattled coach. The hot seat was beginning to cool.
But then as it did the previous season the Hall hit a major bump in the road losing 4 of their next 5 games and visions of the 2015 collapse danced in the heads of all Pirate fans.
Willard to his credit stood firm confidently predicting that this team was different and what happened the year past would not happen again.
Coaches speak from a man desperately trying to hold on to his job? Many thought so but as the remainder of the regular season played out his words were prophetic. The Pirates concluded the season winning 9 of their last 11 games finishing 3rd in the league with a 12-6 mark.
Great numbers, but the best was yet to come.
The Big East tournament followed the Hall's blazing end to the regular season and the hope was that the Pirate would make a good showing and fortify their first invite to the NCAA Tournament since the days of Louis Orr.
Box checked. The Hall did that and so much more. In a three day span Seton Hall beat Creighton and then two top five teams in Xavier and Nova, the latter in a nationally televised game that rocked the Garden to its rafters.
Willard had made good his promise to Lyons taking the Hall to heights that even he did not imagine on his way to being named conference Co-COY with Villanova's Jay Wright.
The Hall was back.
Unfortunately there would be no more highlights as Seton Hall physically and more importantly mentally exhausted had to play a vastly under-seeded Gonzaga team out west five days later falling by the score of 68-52. But that did not in any way tarnish what these Pirates led by Isaiah Whitehead accomplished down the stretch.
Seton Hall was indeed back on the basketball map and the decision made so many months prior in the office of Pat Lyons pay dividends that even he could not have imagined.
Kevin Willard's 2016 season grade: A
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
COMMENTS
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