Saint Peter's hires Seton Hall's Shaheen Holloway as basketball coach

After devoting much of his adult life to Seton Hall basketball, Shaheen Holloway is taking the next step in his coaching career — as the head man at Saint Peter’s University.

First-year Peacocks athletics director Bryan Felt, who like Holloway possesses deep ties to the Hall, is hiring the Pirates’ associate head coach as the replacement for John Dunne, Gannett New Jersey has confirmed. A press conference will take place noon Thursday.

The marriage make sense for both sides. In 11 years as Kevin Willard’s right-hand man — three at Iona and eight at Seton Hall — the 41-year-old Holloway built a reputation as a strong recruiter, shrewd judge of talent and expert developer of guards.

For a Peacocks program that largely recruits locally, Holloway provides credibility as a metropolitan-area lifer, having starred as a player at St. Patrick High School in Elizabeth and then Seton Hall (where he still holds the program’s career assists record). His familial relationship with the now-Patrick School, which has served the Pirates well, could do wonders for Saint Peter’s.

He also has the connections to put together a strong assistant coaching staff, something he secured the resources for during negotiations for the position.

For Holloway, leaving the nest in South Orange is not without risk. Saint Peter’s is a challenge, although Felt is said to be pouring more resources into the program. Dunne worked wonders there over 12 years, winning the MAAC Tournament in 2011 and the CIT in 2017. But his record of 153-225 may have hindered him from moving up to a bigger job, and ultimately he opted for a seemingly lateral move with a bigger paycheck at Marist.

As popular and valuable as he is at Seton Hall, however, Holloway was not necessarily viewed as an heir apparent to Kevin Willard. For Holloway to eventually take the reins at his alma mater — a dream of his — the feeling is he needs to run his own shop first. This is an opportunity to do that, and do it under a boss with whom he has a built-in rapport. Felt will allow Holloway to grow into the job with a maximum amount of patience.

Throw in the security of a six-year contract and a considerable raise, and it’s a financial gain for Holloway as well. Dunne was making $230,000 according to the latest documents available. Holloway will make substantially more than that, and considerably more than he was making at Seton Hall, Gannett New Jersey has learned. The exact figure is undisclosed.

For Seton Hall, Holloway will be difficult to replace. Willard does not have to fill the title of associate head coach, but he would need to find a strong recruiter. Former Pirate forward Marcus Toney-El could be a possibility; he has Division I coaching experience at Fairleigh Dickinson and currently serves as an assistant to grassroots power broker Jim Salmon at Montclair Immaculate.

Another alum worth considering would be Donald Copeland, who is an assistant at Wagner and could fill Holloway’s role as guards coach.

Staff writer Jerry Carino: jcarino@ganettnj.com.