Shaheen Holloway, as expected, is officially heading home.
The Saint Peter’s head coach who led the mid-major Peacocks on one of the most memorable runs in March Madness history has agreed to become the head coach at his alma mater Seton Hall, just a short drive from Saint Peter’s campus in Jersey City.
According to Jeff Goodman of Stadium, Saint Peter’s made a big-time push to try and keep Holloway, who just guided the program to the Elite Eight, the first 15 seed to ever accomplish that feat, but couldn’t compete with the six-year deal that Holloway signed to return to the Pirates. According to the New York Post, the deal could have a base salary of $2.4 million, a significant boost from the roughly $300,000 he was making per season at Saint Peter’s, where he reportedly took a slight pay cut recently due to the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Holloway, whose name was in reports of becoming Seton Hall’s next head coach just hours after his Peacocks were eliminated by North Carolina on Sunday night, thanked Saint Peter’s in a tweet on Thursday morning, as he gets ready to be formally introduced at Seton Hall in a press conference on Thursday afternoon.
“Thank you Peacock Nation for all your love and support,” Holloway said. “Words cannot explain the appreciation and love I have for you all. Lets’ make sure you all keep supporting the team with the same energy and passion you did all year long…Love is love.”
Holloway was the point guard for the Pirates when the program, or any New Jersey program, had last reached the Sweet 16 before Saint Peter’s did it this year. That was way back in 2000.
“Life has a way of coming full circle,” Holloway said in a statement. “This is certainly a full circle moment for my family and I. Seton Hall is near and dear to my heart; it’s where I became a man, where I met the love of my life, where I spent countless hours honing my crafts as a basketball player and a basketball coach.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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