Saint Peter’s coach all about loyalty
Greg Herenda has a story to tell about his successful recruitment of Shaheen Holloway to Seton Hall’s basketball program in the mid-1990s. If you want to know what makes the Saint Peter’s men’s basketball coach tick as his Cinderella team dances into the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16, this is a good place to start.
Like all recruiters, Herenda was constantly reaching out to Holloway, visiting his practices and games, showing his face and trying to make a connection deep enough to sway the decision.
Because Holloway was so talented – he would become MVP of the McDonald’s AllAmerican game – some bigtime programs were in pursuit.
The head coach of one of them – at Herenda’s request, we’ll just call it a brand-name team in another part of the country – visited the point guard’s home in Hillside, New Jersey. Herenda feared the worst.
“I’m like, ‘This is (bleeping) over,’ ” Herenda said. “I’m waiting and waiting to talk with him and it was like midnight when we finally did. I said, ‘Sha, listen, I know this is over. I know you’re going there. How could you possibly not go there?’ ”
The line went quiet for a moment.
“Then he said, ‘Coach, that was the most boring (guy) I ever met in my entire life,” Herenda recalled. “He said, ‘I’m not going there, I’m telling you.’ ”
Loyalty is ‘part of his DNA’
True to his word, Holloway remained local. There were various reasons why, including having a young daughter he wanted to be there for, but one way or another, it all came back to one word. Loyalty.
“His loyalty is innate; it’s part of his DNA,” Herenda said. “Like the world is round,
Sha is loyal.”
Throughout his recruitment and even after his commitment, Holloway would call Herenda to check in. You read that right. The recruit would call the recruiter. Usually it’s the other way around.
“He would call me at all hours of the night,” Herenda said. “It got to the point where I would hand the phone off to my wife (Jill) to talk to him.”
She, too, formed a bond with the ball-handling whiz.
“It was like having an adopted son,” Greg said.
As soon as Holloway committed, he started recruiting other players to join him, helping form the core of the Pirates’ unit that would make the Sweet 16 in 2000.
Herenda is the head coach at Fairleigh Dickinson now, and he’s watched Holloway’s rise through the profession with satisfaction. The results speak for themselves, but it’s Holloway’s handling of the spotlight, and of his players as their games become increasingly magnified, that has him nodding at the TV set.
“It was always real with him, the way he’s real with the media and every player he coaches,” Herenda said. “Everything he’s doing now, he did from Queens to Hillside to Philadelphia (site of this week’s East Regional semifinals). What you see is what you get.”
What’s next for Holloway?
Once this joyride is over, Holloway’s next stop will be at the high-major level. Herenda has coached in the Big East and he’s coached in the Northeast Conference. What does he think of Holloway’s readiness for the leap?
“It’ll be seamless,” he said. “The big stage is made for Sha and I think he’ll be even better. He’ll get bigger and better players. He’s fearless as a recruiter, he’s a really good coach, he’s smart and he’ll raise money.”
It’s possible that some Power Five football school could come calling for him now, and that prospect might have some Seton Hall fans jittery about what seems like an inevitable and perfect fit to succeed Kevin Willard, who is headed to be Maryland’s men’s head coach. Holloway at LSU? Herenda knows better.
“He’s not going far,” Herenda said. “He’s never going far. He was made to take a local job.”
Before that, though, comes the ultimate Cinderella moment: Can Holloway steer a No. 15 seed into the Elite Eight for the first time ever? One thing is certain: He will have an entire state in his corner and a huge fan presence at the Wells Fargo Center.
“Philadelphia is going to be nuts,” Herenda said. “It’ll be great for Jersey.”