I don't find it unusual at all. He has obviously earned his reputation and is noticed for the work done previously. A similar thing happened to me at a
VB tournament last week. Because of weather the schedules got all messed up and the finals were moved to late on Saturday. The director of the tournamnet called our assignor and specifically asked for my partner and I because we had done previous games in the tournament and got good reviews from every coach involved.
Seems fair to me. Well done I say and YES take it as a HUGE COMPLIMENT.