This article was written by Tom Duffy and originally appeared in The Setonian on December 9, 2015. It has been republished with the author’s permission.

Sleep, basketball, class and then more basketball.

That is what life as a student manager is like. It is a difficult job, but a worthwhile one for people with hoops in their blood. Adam Satz can attest to this.

During his senior year at Seton Hall, Satz was honored by UPS as the 2011 Manager of the Year. He currently works as the Pirates’ assistant director of athletics com- munications.

“If I wasn’t in class, I was here,” Satz said. “As a manager, your job is to not get noticed. It’s kind of like when you’re a referee or an umpire. If people are talking about you, it usually means you did something wrong.”

There seems to be a certain stereotype about managers – that they’re just water boys, ball boys and the guys who mop up sweat.

That’s true. Partially.

As junior manager Anthony Madle explains, the job is much deeper than outsiders seem to believe.

“Yeah, we do the dirty work. But there’s none of that ‘Go carry my shoes’ stigma. We’re friends with the players. They really do respect us, and the coaches do, too. They appreciate what we do.”

Madle and the eight other managers typically arrive at the gym around 7:30 a.m. to prepare the floor, the balls, the uniforms and anything else asked of them. Those tasks are nothing to these guys.

If you assumed laundry is arduous, too, you are wrong.

“When we were on the road and in hotels, we’re doing it there,” Satz said. “We’re hauling seven bags of laundry to different hotels if our own didn’t have what we needed. Some of my best memories are just roaming around in cities trying to find a place to do our laundry.”

One duty in particular is extremely tough, though.