The crowd is urged to give a standing ovation to the players who attended the news conference. There is a time and a place for this.
It wasn't a surprise that coach Shaheen Holloway got the head-coaching job at Seton Hall.
The only person athletic director Bryan Felt considered was the career assists leader and star of the college coaching scene after taking Cinderella Saint Peter's to the Elite Eight.
The 15 players from the Saint Peter's team were in the audience to applaud him if there was a surprise Thursday as he was introduced in a tiny Walsh Gymnasium crowd of about 1,000 people.
The Peacocks were there to celebrate their former coach. It says a lot. He gets back what he pours in.
This is the second time that Felt has hired him. He was the athletic director at Saint Peter. After taking the job at Seton Hall, Felt was hired again Wednesday.
The first 15 seed to reach the Elite Eight was the Peacocks. Their run to the Final Four ended on Sunday with a 69-49 loss to North Carolina.
"I wouldn't be up here if it wasn't for those 15 young men," he said after being introduced. The second of three standing ovations was sparked by a remark. The first time was when they arrived.
He spoke with the Peacocks for three hours on Wednesday before he was hired. He said leaving the program was hard. He said the players made it easy for him, even teasing the man who was an assistant coach for eight seasons.
The Big East program has been to five of the past six NCAA tournaments and is being replaced by Holloway. The 2020 event would have been six of seven had it not been canceled.
Saint Peter's will be back on the Pirates schedule after a four-year absence, according to the coach. He said how important it was for him to get this job.
He said that he was not going to mess this up. It is a difference. It is a big difference, like you put more time, effort, sweat, and tears. This is all I need to get a chance to coach at my alma mater. I am not going to ruin this opportunity.
On Wednesday night, he walked around Walsh Gym and it brought back a lot of memories.
He said that he was blessed and that he was humbled.
He felt exhausted and drained after two weeks. The emotional burden reached a climax when his grandmother died. She raised him.
She told him she wanted to be buried at Seton Hall and he will try to fulfill her wish.
He wants to improve the Pirates program.
It is going to be hard work to take it to the next level. It is going to be difficult.
Looking at the players in the audience, he told them to get ready to work.
Samuel said that he is looking forward to working with the coach, who he said is the most talked about coach in the country right now. The Pirates are going to be put under pressure by the success of Holloway.
Samuel said that as a player, you want to move on to where he left off. He took a great team, Saint Peter's, to the Elite Eight and he is trying to do the same thing here. There is no time to rest.
Rachelle Paul will do a good job, but I hope to have a say in finding my replacement at Saint Peter's.
Doug Edert is a guard for the Peacocks. At the Jesuit school in New Jersey, which is less than 20 miles away, he earned about $200,000 a year.
Edert said they were all happy for him and everything he did.
That is how he described returning to Seton Hall.
During his time at Seton Hall, he was a four-year starter and helped lead the team to the Sweet 16 in 2000. He hit the game-winning layup in overtime to defeat Oregon in the first round. He was a member of the school's athletics Hall of Fame.
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