Some big news coming out of Seton Hall University this morning…
Msgr. Robert Sheeran, the President of the University, announced he will step down in June 2010 after 15 years on the job.
“As a priest, I try to listen to what God is saying… It becomes clearer, with a little bit of prayer,” he told The Star-Ledger. “It’s a deeply personal and genuinely spiritual direction.”
Sheeran helped the University raise $153 million in 2007 and increased the school’s endowment five-fold, but the University’s athletic teams have floundered in recent years.
Still, the men’s basketball team has the chance for a resurgence in the Big East next season, with the additions of transfers Herb Pope, Keon Lawrence and Jeff Robinson.
In his fourth year as head coach, Bobby Gonzalez will need to blend the new players — including recruits Jamel Jackson and Ferrakohn Hall –– with the core that includes Jeremy Hazell, Robert Mitchell, Eugene Harvey, John Garcia and Jordan Theodore.
“That’s 100 percent right,” Gonzalez told Jeff Goodman of Foxsports.com. “It’s a different challenge this year. We’re deeper and more athletic. It’s the best team I’ve had in my four years here. This can be a really good team – if we play together, there’s no jealousy and we share the ball.”
Pitt coach Jamie Dixon previously said he thought several teams could move up in the Big East next year, including Cincinnati, St. John’s and Seton Hall.
“Those are going to be more experienced teams,” Dixon said. “There are some very experienced teams and it’s not the teams that were at the top of the conference last year.”
**In other Big East news, Cincinnati picked up a commitment from Jaquon Parker, a 6-4 point guard out of King’s Fork High School in Suffolk, Va. who reclassified from 2010 to 2009.
(Photo courtesy Star-Ledger)
