It’s going to take new St. John’s coach Norm Roberts months, if not years, before he wins over the toughest basketball critics in the world.

It took 15 minutes to win over his new players.

“Very nice guy,” forward Ryan Williams told The Post. “I’m happy that he’s here. I want to get started right away. I wish the season started next week.”

Roberts’ enthusiastic personality was a welcome change from the monotonous preaching of former coach Mike Jarvis and the soft-spoken approach of interim coach Kevin Clark, who along with assistant coach Dermon Player was classy enough to attend Roberts’ press conference yesterday.

Roberts and his wife, Pascale, met with the players in the coach’s office in Alumni Hall. Roberts said his first order of business is to meet individually with each of the players and their families.

“The first thing is to give the players a sense of stability,” Roberts said. “I’m sure they feel like they’re in limbo.

“I just wanted them to feel comfortable. [I want them] to get to meet me, meet my wife, talk to them a little bit about how excited I am about being here, excited about being able to coach them and get to know them as people.”

The players responded because they felt as if they were dealing with a straight shooter and not a schmoozer. All of the players eligible for next season were present, including guard Daryll “Showtime” Hill, who is entertaining thoughts of leaving for the NBA Draft.

Sources told The Post that had St. John’s not hired a standup guy like Roberts, Hill and Williams almost surely would have left the program. Now they likely will be the nucleus for next year’s squad.

“Everybody seems to like him,” Williams said. “Everybody’s upbeat. You can tell he’s not B.S.-ing. He says what he means.”

Roberts, who has two sons, said he believes in communicating with his players on a daily basis. He wants to know whom they’re hanging with, how’s their girlfriend, and how things are at home.

Roberts said he expects every player to come to his office once a day. He expects to talk to them more about life than basketball. A lot of coaches repeat those themes by rote; Roberts says them with conviction.

“He said it’s going to be family-oriented,” Williams said. “He said he wants to meet our families and make this a big family process where we’re all like brothers. He said if we do what we have to do and we’re all on the right page, we’ll be playing together next year.”