PHILADELPHIA — Shaheen Holloway wasn’t ready to look ahead yet.
Following Cinderella Saint Peter’s NCAA Tournament exit in a one-sided, 69-49 Elite Eight loss to No. 8 North Carolina on Sunday, he declined to address rumors about his own future.
When Kevin Willard left Seton Hall for Maryland last Monday, reports circulated that Holloway would take over the Pirates — for whom he was a star player and eventually an assistant coach under Willard — after Saint Peter’s run came to a close. According to sources, the expectation is that Holloway will leave for the Big East school. Seton Hall hasn’t spoken to any other candidates.
“I’m not worried about that right now. I’m worried about those 15 young men whose hearts are broken and really down,” Holloway said. “It’s my job as their leader to cheer them up, make sure they understand what they did the last two weeks. And like I said, we’re going to walk out of here the same way we walked in here, with our head up.”
Approached by The Post after the press conference, Holloway declined further comment, saying he was still Saint Peter’s coach. He has side-stepped the matter throughout the tournament.
Shaheen Holloway embraces his Saint Peter’s players after they were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament. Getty ImagesThe two New Jersey programs are connected. Seton Hall athletic director Bryan Felt hired Holloway at Saint Peter’s in 2018 when he held the same position. Current Saint Peter’s athletic director Rachelle Paul came from Seton Hall, where she was a senior associate athletics director, senior woman administrator and deputy Title IX coordinator.
If Holloway, a 45-year-old Queens native, does take the job, he would be in line for a major raise. According to sources, he recently took a pay cut, due to financial constraints at Saint Peter’s brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, and that came after he was making roughly $300,000 per season. Willard earned a base salary of $2.4 million this past season at Seton Hall, sources said.
Top Saint Peter’s assistant Ryan Whalen, who came to the Jersey City school with Holloway from Seton Hall, could be his replacement there, sources believe. Seton Hall assistant coach Grant Billmeier and Rutgers assistant Brandin Knight are likely candidates as well.
Holloway would be a home run hire at Seton Hall. His star has risen significantly in recent weeks, as he led Saint Peter’s to the Elite Eight, and he was already a universally respected figure in New York City and New Jersey. The Peacocks became the first 15th seed to advance this far, and they have posted three straight winning seasons under Holloway’s leadership for the first time since 2004-06.
As a player at St. Patrick (now The Patrick School), he was an All-American, and helped Seton Hall reach the Sweet 16 in 2000, the last team from the New York area to advance to the second weekend of March Madness until Saint Peter’s this month. He helped Willard build Seton Hall into a winner before leaving four years ago. Willard has publicly campaigned for Holloway to replace him.
“If I’m not here next year, I’d love if Shaheen Holloway is here,” Willard said after Seton Hall first-round NCAA Tournament loss to TCU. “That would be the happiest thing that ever happened to me.”
