Here are some excerpts from new Arizona State interim head coach Tim Esmay’s press conference on Thursday evening, courtesy of sports information director Randy Policar.

"Obviously I’ve been born and raised with Arizona State, ever since I was a little kid. This is tremendous for me. This is home. I’m a Sun Devil and that’s one of the big reasons why it’s been great to come back. When someone like (athletic director) Lisa Love calls and says we need this to happen, that’s what you do when you are a Sun Devil. You come back and you help this place out.

"I’ve been very fortunate in my playing and coaching career. Think about it, there’s only been three coaches at Arizona State and every one of them have been truly successful. If you look at all three of them, Coach (Bobby) Winkles, Coach (Jim) Brock and Coach (Pat) Murphy, all three of them had different styles. But they all worked and they all won. I’m really lucky and understanding that I got to see how Coach Brock ran things, and I got to see how Coach Murphy did things. I wouldn’t be very smart if I didn’t take a lot of stuff from both those guys to try and plug into my own ideas of what I can do.

"?If you watch a Coach Winkles, Coach Brock or Coach Murphy team, the common denominator is that every one played the game the right way. They hustle, they have moxie to them, they play hard, they are relentless. That’s something that I just want to continue. My goal is to continue what’s already been established. Why would you change something that has been successful?

"To walk in that clubhouse and see a lot of familiar faces, that was a big part for me. I knew that I had already coached a good number of those kids in that clubhouse. Even the new guys, a lot of the freshmen, I was involved in their recruiting process, so all of those faces were familiar. When I walked in, it was like I hadn’t ever left. It felt normal. That’s the biggest word I can give you is normal. It’s home.

"Coach Murphy was very successful and what Coach Murphy did you can’t dispute. They signed up to come play here and I was very lucky and very fortunate that he gave me an opportunity to come back and be in this program.

"Expectations have not changed, the road has not changed. These kids came to play baseball and they are going to play baseball. They are going to play at the level that they signed up for. That’s the goal of the program from this day forward: to try and maintain those expectations. They are very lofty goals and these are very special kids. The leadership we have and the direction they are in is amazing. I know that they will not allow anyone to get sidetracked from what they came here to do.

"Travis Jewett will be on the staff. The rest of the staff is an ongoing process and that will hopefully be tied down in the next couple of weeks.

"Right now, my only concern is that these kids have finals next week. I need to make sure these kids are locked in to the job at hand. I think the success of this place is yes, expectations are always out there, but the process of understanding the day-by-day, that’s how I’m treating this thing. I cannot concern myself with six months from now. All I know is what a great opportunity we have in front of us."