Several names have been thrown around, including former assistants/players, as well as some others unaffiliated with Syracuse. None of the current candidates notably named in contention for the job have demonstrated long term head coaching success at any institution at this level. Several are extremely early in their tenures at mid-major jobs, with no remarkable accomplishments, postseason tournament wins, etc. Gerry led Sienna to the tournament, but with 2 years of HC experience, he's just not ready to save our program. Hopkins was fired from Washington after several years of mediocrity. Hodgson is in his 3rd year at his 2nd school, has yet to get a bid to the tournament. Schertz is the only one with true experience, mostly coming at the D2 level. St Louis has drastically different expectations than us, and despite his experience at lower levels he's just as much of a longshot as Hodgson. Its one thing to beat VCU; can you beat Duke or Carolina? The situation we are in is precarious; a patch on this deflating tire is completely unacceptable. We are teetering on the edge between a return to glory, or a slide towards irrelevance, and proverbial basketball hell to which its entirely possible the program may never ever hope to recover. We don’t want to end up like Georgia Tech or Boston College, struggling to put together a 13 win team year after year, with no Sun on the horizon.
The real answer is clear. Its Shaheen Holloway. Plain and simple. While many of a different generation might be familiar with his time at Seton Hall as a player, leading the Pirates to the Sweet 16 in 2000, many of you will recognize his name from the 2022 NCAA Tournament, where he led his 15th Seed Saint Peter’s Peacocks to the Elite 8, becoming the first 15 seed to make it that far in the history of the game.
He’s been a head coach since the 2018-19 season where he took over the job at Saint Peters, a team that essentially plays in front of 500 people in a middle school cafetorium style gym. Truthfully, those reading this might even be hearing of this school for the first time right now. He immediately turned the program around, culminating in a MAAC championship and a birth in the 2022 NCAA tournament. Leading a team with (as of now) ZERO NBA players, he led the Peacocks to victories over #2 Kentucky (with 4 NBA players), #7 Murray State (31-3) and #3 Purdue (2 NBA players including 7’4” All American and future 2 time Wooden Award Winner Zach Edey). Ultimately they lost to UNC, who would go on to finish as the National Runner-up to Kansas that year.
In '23 he took over the Seton Hall job from Kevin Willard. Including the tournament run with the Peacocks, he has amassed a record of 9-17 against top 25 competition, including multiple upsets of Connecticut, who has been the best team in college basketball over the course of the last 3 years. (In comparison, Syracuse is 2-12 under Coach Autry against the top 25, most of which are utter blowouts). He guided Seton Hall to the NIT title in 23-24, proving once again that he can lead a team to success in March. He was just named Big East Coach of the Year. Additionally, in 4 out of the past 5 seasons, teams coached by Holloway have been in the top 33 in terms of defensive rating according to KenPom. This year, the Pirates rank 13th in total defense per KenPom. In that same time frame, the Orange have fared much worse, with an average defensive rating of 144th per KenPom. This defensive tenacity has been accomplished with only 1 player of Holloway’s having signed an NBA contract as of right now; ironically former Syracuse player Kadary Richmond. Coach Holloway has consistently elevated the level of his talent into a gritty, hardnose defensive basketball team, wildly better than anything we've seen in 5 years. Now imagine what he could do here, in front of 35,000 people, with a much greater NIL budget than commuter school Seton Hall. Syracuse can provide Coach Holloway with everything he needs to build a successful basketball team, one that can compete for champions in March; a devoted fan base, the biggest on campus arena in the country, a legacy of success, competitive NIL budgets, and above all, a community and a team that is ready for a culture change. He is turning 50 years old this year; he could spend his next 20 at Syracuse.
And he's realistically affordable. Seton Hall doesn't release full details, but his estimated per year right now is about $2.4-$2.6 million. I'm assuming any offer we make will be in the $4-$5 million range. With the entire staff gone, he'll have final say on the entire staff, get to work with the new AD with NIL and hiring a new GM. He'll have full control of the program. And he'll be able to attract and build the kind of talent needed to win when it matter most. In March.
