Already named both the AP’s BIG EAST Coach of the Year and the unanimous BIG EAST Coach of the Year, Seton Hall men’s basketball head coach Shaheen Holloway added a third accolade this season on Tuesday by being named the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Mid-Atlantic District Co-Coach of the Year. The honors were voted on by NABC-member coaches across NCAA Division I college basketball.
Sharing it with Saint Joseph’s Steve Donahue and Yale’s James Jones, Holloway earned the honor after leading the Pirates to a 21-12 record, a 14-win improvement from last season’s 7-25 record that marks the best turnaround in program history and the second-best of any team in the nation this season.
The Hall’s 10-10 record in conference play, good enough for a fourth-place finish in the conference standings and first-round bye in the BIG EAST Tournament, was also an 8-win improvement from last season, tied for the third-best turnaround in conference history.
Also honored by the NABC was junior guard Adam “Budd” Clark, who landed on the NABC’s All-District First-Team.
The honor marks Clark’s fourth this season, named to both the All-BIG EAST Second Team and the conference’s inaugural All-Defensive Team at the conclusion of the regular season, as well as the All-Tournament Team at the conclusion of the BIG EAST Tournament.
During the regular season, Clark averaged a team-high 12.4 points per game, which rose to 13.7 in conference play, while also adding team-highs of 4.7 assists and 2.0 steals. He posted 19 games in double-figures, leading SHU in scoring nine times, which included scoring performances of 31 points—the most of any Pirate this season—24 points and 22 points, among others.
In The Hall’s two games in the BIG EAST Tournament at Madison Square Garden (MSG), Clark averaged 16.5 points, 8.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game, making program history in both.
Fourth-seeded SHU defeated fifth-seeded Creighton in the quarterfinals, where Clark became just the fourth Pirate to complete a 16-point, 7-rebound, 6-assists statline in the BIG EAST Tournament, joining the likes of Isaiah Whitehead, Adrian Griffin, and Holloway.
He followed that with a 17-point and 11-assist double-double in The Hall’s loss to St. John’s, in the semifinals that made him the first Pirates to have at least 15 points and 10 assists in a BIG EAST Tournament game, and just the fifth Pirates with 10 assists in such a game as well. His points-assists double-double was also the first in the tournament since former UConn Huskie Tristan Newton’s in the 2024 tournament final.
“What I liked about Budd was that he played with a chip on his shoulder,” Holloway said postgame about what he noticed about Clark before recruiting him to The Hall. “He played with the passion, and the heart, and the determination that, you know, I kind of played with.”
“And I love the fact that people counted him out because of his size,” Holloway added. “I knew if he got with me and learned—because he got some things that you just can’t teach, and for him the good thing is that he’s still learning. I think once he continues to keep growing and learning, I think his game can go even higher.”
Zachary Mawby is the head editor of The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at zachary.mawby@student.shu.edu.
