Right around 10 on Monday morning, new BC baseball head coach Todd Interdonato, his wife Melissa and two daughters Keegan and Kierlan walked into a packed Frates Center for his introductory press conference.

By about 10:15, Interdonato was fighting back tears as he got emotional talking about his family and this new opportunity.

"Family here today...this is everything to us," he said while pausing to take a few deep breaths. "We started our life in South Carolina together. Wofford College was home to us, those girls were born...Keegan's first game was Wofford vs. BC as crazy as that sounds. Our first home game at Wofford in 2015. I think there's maybe a story there because it was about 34 degrees and Melissa had her bundled up because it was freezing cold, but we got through it. We won't go over the score of what happened that day for everyone in this room, but it was a great day and it's just so fitting these things tie together with family and history and the fact that was her first game against BC. Just kind of one of those moments you can't replicate."

Prior to Interdonato taking the stage and being presented his first BC baseball jersey (No. 29) by John and Nancy Frates, Blake James talked about the search before officially introducing the new man in charge of Birdball.

"Boston College is a special place and a lot of you know that," he said. "One of the special athletic programs we have is baseball. There's great history and tradition with baseball, so when the news came to me that we were going to need to find a new head coach, it was important to me that we found a person that really understood Boston College and was really going to grab the baton and take it to the next level. Someone that had a proven track record of leading young men. As we started our search, there was great interest nationally in this job, no surprise to mine. The best baseball conference in the country, the ACC, the best institution with a great facility here. There was no doubt in my mind we were going to get an outstanding pool, which we did.

"One individual rose to the top of that pool right away. It was something I know both Craig Anderson and Matt Conway - who I want to give recognition and thanks to as they really led this search for me - we identified as really a person of great interest of ours. After conversations we had with both Craig and Matt, it re-affirmed what we saw on paper was real. A week ago today, he and I met for the first time in person. We had a great conversation. We talked for over an hour about baseball, about BC, about BC baseball and about what his vision looked like for BC. We talked about my expectations for our next leader. We needed someone genuine, who's going to love the men in our program and someone that's going to help them develop as people and not just baseball players. Someone who has integrity. Someone who's about excellence and someone who's about family...he's shown he knows how to build things and he's shown he knows how to maintain things."

After receiving his new jersey from the Frates' Interdonato also got emotional talking about the support from them.

"What John and Nancy might not know, is Melissa and I met Pete all the way back in 2012," he explained. Apologies to everybody, but my wife is a Clemson grad and was born and raised in South Carolina and I think in (2010, '11 or '12), Clemson was playing at BC on Wofford's fall break. We decided to come up and visit and obviously we had a relationship with Mike (Gambino) and Sully (Greg Sullivan) and the previous staff...we walked into the garage over there in front of Conte and it was 'hey, meet some of these guys, meet some of the alumni,' and we're going through it and Pete was part of that group. Obviously, we knew the story."

He then started to speak directly to the Frates'.

"You guys have been through more than anybody could ever imagine, and by the way, handled it with such grace and such impact," he added. "Then, we got to be around him all the way from 2012 and had been around (Pete) three or four more times throughout the course of his life. I don't know someone from the outside can do that justice, but we're going to try."

Interdonato was also asked if he had started the process of hiring his new coaching staff yet.

"Oh brother. Yeah, I think my wife and girls could answer that question better than I could," he said with a laugh. "The interest that we've gotten...Greg Sullivan has been on staff here for a dozen years and I had a previous relationship with Greg. What people don't know is we hired Greg at Wofford 12 years ago, hired him from Newbury. He was at Wofford for six weeks until BC stole him back. But, Greg and I had a great relationship and kept in constant communication. When we got here, frankly, we had a lot of pointed questions for Greg and Matt and Blake and the value that he brings. Once you get around the players and see the value Greg brings to the program, it was a no-brainer to keep him. Now, we have our pitching coach spot and hitting coach spot to fill.

"To say we've been through interviews and phone calls and Zooms and all that...it's been our No. 1 focus of getting our best guys in here. When I met with the players in the locker room I told them we're going to get the absolute best people we can because this is going to be a player-centric program. Every decision we make is going to be about the development of the players. I told the guys, I would not have been standing in that locker room being introduced as their next head coach without player development. That was our No. 1 focus at Wofford...we have to find guys that are player-centric as well. They're not all like that. Not all coaches are player-centric. A lot of coaches are coach-centric. We're going to do a deep dive. I've already talked to upwards of 30-40 candidates in the last two days. We will get the right people, I assure you of that."

Head football coach Jeff Hafley was on hand and Interdonato spoke about how much support he's already received from other Eagles' coaches and staffs.

"It's been great," he added. "I don't know what transition feels like. I've been in a place for 18 years, this is foreign territory for us and just, every single head coach, almost every single head coach reached out. You get here and you're going crazy and kind of going through this and suddenly, Jeff reaches out and other coaches reach out. Amy comes by to spend time with us and...you know, you just get a sense of (the closeness amongst coaches). The text messages rolling into last night, I'm getting texts at 10 or 11 from coaches welcoming us and saying 'what can we do to help?' Even Blake, said 'hey, my wife can be a resource for your wife,' and let's get everybody integrated. It's been incredible. You have these preconceived notions that BC is going to be a family enviormentt, but in the first four days, they've even exceeded those expectations."

It's hard to know how Interdonato will be received by the players until they actually start getting into baseball activities, but many of them were on hand for the press conference and given him their full support.

"Almost immediately after Blake and I came to an agreement, I called Vince Cimini and just said, 'hey man, take a deep breath, relax, we have somebody in place, we're good, we're going to move forward and I just want to express our thanks and you sticking with BC through this transition, through this process," explained Interdonato. "He's like, 'yeah, of course we're going to stick with BC' And I was like no, I understand the uncertainty. You deal with coaches and one-on-one's and he just goes 'Todd, I speak for everybody. We'd rather die than go play for another program.'

"That simple. That matter of fact and that was immediately the moment I knew the power this institution has on these student athletes. We're excited to join and we're excited to be here...we're just ecstatic to be joining this family."