Basketball Coach Shaheen Holloway was named Big East Coach of the Year.
Seton Hall men’s basketball coach Shaheen Holloway was unanimously named Big East Coach of the Year.
Holloway led a Pirate team which was selected last in the Big East preseason poll and guided them to a fourth-place finish in 2025-26.
Holloway is the fourth coach to win Big East Coach of the Year and the first since Kevin Willard was Co-Coach of the Year in 2016. Louis Orr (2003) and P.J. Carlesimo (1988, 1989) have also received the honor from the league.
Holloway guided the Pirates to a 20-11 overall mark and a 10-10 record in Big East play, one year removed from winning just two conference contests and seven games overall. The +13 win improvement is tied for the biggest turnaround in program history, and currently ranks as the third-best win improvement in all of college basketball.
Holloway’s Pirates won eight more Big East games this season than they did one season ago, tied for the third-best single-season turnaround in league play history.
Only two rotational players returned for the Pirates in 2025-26, and both players dealt with injuries throughout the season. Holloway’s rotation for the bulk of the campaign consisted of Pirate newcomers, but his team grew together rapidly. Seton Hall jumped out to a 14-2 start, its best start since 2017-18, eventually vaulting itself into the AP Top 25 in the middle of January.
Under his tutelage, Holloway developed Merrimack transfer Budd Clark into one of the top point guards in the Big East.
Clark was named to the All-Big East Second Team and the All-Big East Defensive Team on Sunday and has been an integral part of the Pirates’ success this season. He has spearheaded a strong defense, a trait which has become synonymous with Holloway-coached teams, to the tune of a league-best 65.1 points per game allowed.
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