The NCAA opted not to extend Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard’s suspension for transfer tampering, but it did hit his school with further penalties.
Seton Hall will be docked one scholarship next season, will lose two weeks of recruiting contact time this year and next year, and has been fined $5,000 in addition to one percent of its men’s basketball budget, the NCAA announced on Friday after completing its investigation into the New Jersey school’s tampering of former Syracuse and current Seton Hall player Taurean Thompson in 2017. Seton Hall was also given three years of probation.
As part of a negotiated agreement with the NCAA, Willard was suspended two games for his role in the infractions. His former assistant coach, St. Peter’s current head man Shaheen Holloway, is serving a four-game suspension.
Holloway, the NCAA found, had impermissible phone contact with Thompson’s mother, Sherese Piper, while her son was enrolled at Syracuse. There were 154 phone calls between the two parties without Syracuse’s permission. After Syracuse declined Seton Hall permission to contact Thompson following his request to transfer, there were 87 more calls placed between Holloway and Piper.
Holloway told the NCAA he didn’t report the calls because there was a personal relationship between the two that did not include her son’s basketball career. Holloway was given a 20-month show cause and will lose six weeks of recruiting contact this year in addition to his current suspension.
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