Seton Hall - Willard Thread...

[billyjack]

I think this deserves its own thread, like the Ewing discussion.

As GW11 and Hall2012 and others have mentioned, strong probability that Willard will be moving to Maryland, and announcing Monday. This at least makes last night's result understandable.

Also, Shaheen Holloway is the leading candidate to replace KW.

Holloway is an alum and starred at Seton Hall from 97 to 2000. Hoping Pirate fans can fill us in with details about him. My initial reaction is that this would be a great move.

[billyjack]

Heavy rumors that Willard is gone to Maryland. Hello, Holloway.

What a great story that would be.

[billyjack]

1-5 in ncaa tourney. I’m honestly surprised Maryland isn’t willing to spend for someone more successful.

They probably see a guy who made the tournament 5 out of 6 years (and easily would've been 6 of 7 without the covid cancellation) with a small fraction of their resources and think that at a "great basketball power" like Maryland, he'll be able to recruit better players and have more success in the tournament. Realistically, when hiring a coach I would expect his full body of regular season work to be a much better indicator of future success than a small sample of NCAA tournament games.

[admin]

Willard didn't do himself, Seton Hall, Holloway, and St Peter's any favors with his comments following the game last night. Not sure what he was thinking especially since St. Peter's play today. Really a foolish, almost idiotic statement. Just say "no comment" and leave it at that.

[Hall2012]

If memery serves, Holloway was man primarily responsible for recruiting Myles Powell and the entire Isaiah Whitehead class, so to begin with, Hall fans are excited about the quality of recruits he could bring in.

On the other hand, he was responsible for - or at least took the fall for - the Taurean Thompson tampering situation. It was a situation that at the time was thought to prevent him from ever having a shot at becoming SHU's head coach.

As far as coaching style, he seems a complete 180 from Willard. He's a no-nonsense coach who runs a tight ship and, as was on display against Kentucky, has an offense built largely on running set plays. Willard, on the other hand, is a players coach who gives his guys A LOT of freedom to improvise on the offensive end. It can work when he has guys talented enough to go improv and beat their man 1-on-1, a la Myles Powell and Isaiah Whitehead, but when he doesn't you get games like these last 3 where they struggle to break 50. It gives me hope for a more consistent offense under Holloway, but potentially a step back on defense. Not that I think he'll be a poor defensive coach, but I don't think we appreciate enough how good Willard is on that side of the ball.

Also, while I'm sure this will be offputting to some, I really liked that attitude Holloway showed in his answer when asked in his interview after the Kentucky game if he ever got nervous during the game: "For what? It's just basketball." Teams tend to take on the attitude of their coach, and I think that's an attitude that can lead to handling pressure very well.

[Hall2012]

Willard didn't do himself, Seton Hall, Holloway, and St Peter's any favors with his comments following the game last night. Not sure what he was thinking especially since St. Peter's play today. Really a foolish, almost idiotic statement. Just say "no comment" and leave it at that.

100% agreed. While I think his intentions were good in wanting to give Holloway deserved praise, publicly endorsing the man as his replacement was disrespectful to St. Peter's given the current situation. It also has SHU fans up in arms, fully convinced that we put up such a poor effort last night because the coach already had 1 foot out the door and the players knew it.

[Hall2012]

Copying my response to Wizard here too:

Question for Hall fans: Was Holloway the leading candidate before he beat Kentucky?

Who was his biggest previous noncon win this year, LIU Brooklyn? Hall fans would be familiar with him, but his resume looks underwhelming to an outsider.

Can't speak to the administration, but he was the fan favorite for sure. He was Willard's right hand man and top recruiter from his time at Iona until he got the St. Peter's gig. He was widely considered to be Seton Hall's coach in waiting for when the time of Willard's departure came. He's a fan favorite from his playing days and while him leaving SHU for St. Peter's was disappointing, it was also widely viewed as his place to get some head coaching experience before coming home. Also, I can't stress enough just how difficult of a job St. Peter's is. Their athletic department has pretty much nil resources. It's a very difficult place to win and while his results there may not look overly impressive to an outsider, people in the NY Metro area consider his success level there to be a minor miracle.

Also, should Holloway get the Seton Hall job, expectation is that the next St. Peter's head coach will be current top SHU assistant Grant Billmeier.

[GoldenWarrior11]

Boy, if Willard does not accept Maryland, he would really be affecting three different programs now (Maryland, Seton Hall and Saint Peter's).

His quote last night was eye-opening. He didn't NEED to comment or speculate, but he did. Very unfortunate that this will now be grouped with Hall's performance last night, but it is what it is now.

If Holloway is hired, or when, the Big East will continue its incredible pursuit of hiring minority head coaches with our programs (Cooley, Jordan, Ewing, Anderson, Smart, Stubblefield). Very cool.

[Hall2012]

Great Shaheen Holloway radio interview if anyone's interested in a listen: https://youtu.be/Z0CvKwANJXk

[GumbyDamnit!]

Thought I heard rumors that the coach “still in the tourney” accepting the Maryland job was Mike Brey, not Willard. Brey and his wife are from the DC area; ND is a UA school like MD. Boomer E., notable alum that may be in the know, stated that it wasn’t Willard they were targeting. Is there a chance there is a different school Willard has his eye on?