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SAN DIEGO — Shaheen Holloway was picking up Kevin Willard full court, and Willard didn’t like it. After the two players dove for a loose ball, a minor skirmish ensued in a mid-’90s Big East contest.
“We got up and kind of pushed each other,” Willard recalled in a phone interview with The Post. “It’s kind of funny. He would’ve kicked my [butt]. That’s why I pushed and ran.”
Little did the two know then how important they would be to each other’s careers years down the line. In 2007, Willard was looking for an assistant coach with ties to the area, a former player who could help him turn around Iona College’s dormant program.
Holloway’s high school coach Kevin Boyle, who had a lot of influence in the Metro area hoops scene, suggested Willard take a look at Holloway, a 30-year-old administrative assistant for Bobby Gonzalez at Seton Hall from Queens. The two spent six hours together in New Rochelle, sitting down for an Italian meal and touring the campus. By the end of it, Willard was certain he had found the right candidate.
“There was a connection there: This is a guy who I would love to work with,” Willard, the Seton Hall coach for the time being, said. “He was a superstar player, and sometimes superstar players have superstar egos. For me, he was a very humble superstar. He’ll still tell you how great of a player he was in a heartbeat, but he talked about his work ethic. He talked about how hard he worked to become a great player. He talked about how hard he wanted to work as a coach.
“I’ll never forget: I walked away saying that’s a guy that’s going to work to be the best. That’s what sold me more about ‘Sha’ than anything.”
A few weeks after Holloway took the job, an assistant coaching spot opened up at Seton Hall. Gonzalez offered Holloway the position. He was ready to tell Willard he was leaving, but as he sat in his office at Iona getting ready to break the news, Holloway had a change of heart. He was with the right person.
“We had a great connection,” Holloway told The Post. “It was the best thing that I did.”
A decade and a half later, that decision set both up for success. Together, they turned around Iona, made Seton Hall into a winner, and now the two are primed to take major steps in their on-the-rise careers.
Holloway has become the star of the NCAA Tournament, leading 15th-seeded Saint Peter’s to the Sweet 16. Willard, after guiding the Pirates to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in the last six tournaments, is likely headed to Maryland, although he declined to comment on the state of negotiations. If he does leave, Holloway is expected to replace him at Seton Hall, where he was a star player and assistant coach under Willard for eight years.
“I’ve been a miserable prick ever since we got our [butt] kicked [in the NCAA Tournament], but the happiest I’ve been in a long time was when we landed and we were able to [watch] the last minute of the game and see him take Saint Peter’s to the Sweet 16,” Willard said. “He’s a heckuva basketball coach. He’s been that for a while, but I’m glad now everyone is getting to see it.”
At Seton Hall, the two struggled initially, reaching just one NIT in their first five seasons in South Orange. It all changed with a top recruiting class of local stars that led the Pirates to their first Big East Tournament title in 23 years in 2016. The star of that team, Isaiah Whitehead, has campaigned on Twitter for Holloway to take over at Seton Hall as word spread of Willard’s expected move to Maryland.
“When they got on campus, he was great,” Willard said. “New York guy helping New York guys. He just got them.”
Holloway, according to Willard, has a way with players, an ability to instill confidence in them. Part of that is due to his belief in himself. He’s obviously gotten everything out of this Saint Peter’s team of unheralded recruits that thrived on the biggest stage in college basketball the last four days.
It all began 15 years ago in New Rochelle when Holloway got his first big coaching break. “I owe a lot to him,” he said of Willard.
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