NCAA Basketball: Ranking the 10 best head coaching hires of 2022 offseason

6. Shaheen Holloway (Seton Hall)

The last decade has been extremely successful at Seton Hall, and losing coach Kevin Willard to Maryland is certainly a blow. With how the program has fared in the Big East in recent years, it’s going to take quite the effort to keep that momentum going. Before the NCAA Tournament began, the Pirates already had an idea of who they wanted as their next head coach and Holloway would have been a great hire. Then the NCAA Tournament happened.

Holloway became a star of March, coaching 15-seed Saint Peter’s all the way to the Elite Eight, an astounding Cinderella run for one of the weaker programs in the MAAC. Holloway formerly starred at guard for the Pirates and spent nearly a decade on Willard’s staff. He spent the last four years with the Peacocks, and this year’s postseason success is clearly evidence that it was a successful stint. Those three upset wins will live forever not only at Saint Peter’s but among the lore of March Madness.

After the dust settles, Seton Hall is bringing aboard a former star who spent some successful years on the Pirates bench as an assistant. When you add this postseason run with Saint Peter’s it looks like even more of a home run hire, especially with how Holloway represented himself and the Peacocks in the NCAA Tournament. He built a talented, scrappy, passionate roster that did the unthinkable and he has the ability to keep Seton Hall among the conversation in a deep Big East.