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MULTIMEDIA |
Audio: The Brian Bailey
Show |
The
Brian Bailey Show airs on Pirate
Radio 1250 on Mondays at 6:30 p.m.
Brian's guests this week
were
Jeff Gravley, Sammy Batten, Todd
Gibson and Rose High School football
coach David Wojtecki:
Replay
show... |
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BASKETBALL |
ECU falls to Barry, Charleston |
CHARLESTON, SC —
East Carolina outscored host College
of Charleston 52-40 in the second
half but it was too little, too
late, in a 77-73 loss to the Cougars
on Monday night. ECU trailed by 18
points early in the second half but
pulled within 71-69 on a 3-pointer
by B.J. Tyson with 1:05 to go.
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More... |
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Next: ECU vs.
NC A&T | Sunday, 2 pm | ESPN3 |
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FOOTBALL |
Stunning new era at hand |
As
head football coach at his alma
mater, Ruffin McNeill avoided
treating the position as though he
were Chief Executive Officer of a
business. McNeill favored a family
model. He was daddy. The players
were his sons. The assistant coaches
and coordinators were uncles.
McNeill's abrupt dismissal Friday after an injury-plagued 5-7 season was
a reminder that big-time college athletics is indeed a business.
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More from Al Myatt... |
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Pictured: Ruffin
McNeill acknowledges the Dowdy-Ficklen
Stadium crowd before what would turn out to
be the East Carolina alum's final homecoming
game as head coach of the Pirates,
a 30-17 win over
Tulsa on Oct. 17. (W.A. Myatt
photo) |
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BASKETBALL |
Lefties lead ECU |
GREENVILLE —
Left-handed scoring powered East
Carolina past South Carolina-Upstate
82-71 in Williams Arena at Minges
Coliseum on Friday night.
Sophomore B.J. Tyson led the way
with a career-high 26 points.
Freshman Kentrell Barkley had 18
points and junior Caleb White
rounded out the southpaw assault
with 13 points.
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More... |
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BASKETBALL |
Pirates start fast, finish strong |
GREENVILLE — East Carolina never
trailed in a 74-48 nonconference win
over Florida Atlantic on Tuesday
night. A 3-pointer by Caleb White
put the Pirates ahead 5-2 with 16
minutes left in the first half and
ECU (4-3) led the rest of the way.
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By
Al Myatt
©2015 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
VIEW MOBILE VERSION OF THIS PAGE
It's been a week since Ruffin McNeill
was fired as football coach at East Carolina.
Athletic director Jeff Compher said he made the decision days before the
announcement was publicized so he actually had some lead time to do
preparation for finding a replacement.
No press conference has been scheduled and a dead period for recruiting
is approaching. The longer Compher searches, the less likely he is going
to be successful on ECU's behalf.
When you don't get your top choice and you keep going down the list, the
process is obviously not going to conclude as fast.
Perhaps Compher has conducted a round of initial interviews and is
zeroing in on his guy.
But maybe he's whiffed on former Auburn coach Gene Chizik and he's
trying to sort out the best available move.
It's kind of like when N.C. State made a pitch for John Calipari and
wound up with Sidney Lowe. Or when North Carolina appeared to have
enticed Frank Beamer away from Virginia Tech but ended up turning to
John Bunting.
When you don't reel in the big fish, coaching changes can have dubious
value.
Compher is dealing with a situation of his own creation. The reluctance
of any coach to be next up in a program where many revered McNeill and
can't fathom his termination is understandable. It's a far cry from an
ideal career move.
McNeill was held accountable for an injury-plagued 5-7 season in 2015.
Will the next ECU coach be able to keep players from getting hurt?
Any coach smart enough to size it up may pass on the opportunity to take
over at ECU.
And how desirable is the guy who wants to go into that situation?
The coaching fraternity is tight and McNeill paid his dues to be a
respected member. The job at ECU may be regarded as tainted by the upper
levels of the coaching brotherhood and its branches.
McNeill, 42-34 in six seasons at ECU with four bowl trips and wins over
the Pirates' last five ACC opponents, was at the Waldorf Astoria in New
York on Monday night to support his friend and mentor, Donnie Duncan, a
former athletic director at Oklahoma and former football coach at Iowa
State. Duncan, who has been fighting cancer, received a Legacy Award
from the National Football Foundation.
Some of the biggest names in the game were there.
"You realize we're the laughing stock of college football, right?"
McNeill asked Thursday. "I went to the National Football Foundation Hall
of Fame with Donnie. ... From Bob Stoops (Oklahoma), Dabo Swinney
(Clemson) – all of 'em, all of 'em were like 'What the ... ?' ... Gene
Chizik and all them. And Compher was not at that deal. He was not there.
...
"We're the laughing stock," McNeill said again. "We're the laughing
stock of college football. East Carolina is. The laughing stock."
I was wondering what Ruff was thinking about his future. Would he
continue in coaching or perhaps look at something in broadcasting as
many coaches do when their careers on the sideline are sidetracked?
"I'll be coaching sometime," McNeill said. "Somewhere. I'm going to be
coaching somewhere. I don't know where yet. I've got like a bunch of
offers right now. I haven't decided yet."
There are rumblings of players leaving ECU if they don't like McNeill's
successor.
Chizik would appear to be the exceptional possibility to make everything
work. He has the experience of winning a national championship as head
coach at Auburn and a national title at Texas as defensive coordinator
before that. He obviously impacted the defense at UNC favorably as
coordinator in 2015. He has the know-how to resolve the turmoil at ECU.
He has the contacts to put together a more-than-capable staff for the
Pirates.
Everyone else who has been mentioned as a candidate looks like the
second coming of John Thompson.
The litmus test will come early with N.C. State traveling to East
Carolina for the second game (Sept.10) of the 2016 season.
McNeill was 2-0 against the Wolfpack.
As I read Compher's bio, it says he was assistant athletic director at
N.C. State until 1992. That appears to put him on the Wolfpack side in
the Peach Bowl that completed ECU's 11-1 season in 1991, the greatest
moment in Pirates football history. That's an incredibly strange
background for the person making decisions of the magnitude that Compher
has made and is in position to make for the current ECU program with
that legendary team approaching its silver anniversary.
FoxSports.com and the Detroit Free Press have reported that Virginia
Tech assistant Shane Beamer, former Michigan coach Brady Hoke and former
North Carolina interim coach Everett Withers have been interviewed.
Beamer has promise but I'm not sure he's ready for the immediate
challenges at ECU or what kind of staff he could bring.
Hoke has been doing satellite radio with Mark "Packman" Packer after
falling out of favor with the Wolverines. He had some success at San
Diego State but was 5-7 at Michigan in 2014 before he was fired.
Culturally, I don't think Hoke fits ECU.
Hopefully, Withers isn't seen as an improvement on McNeill. He has had
success at James Madison, Compher's alma mater, but lost three of the
last five after quarterback Vad Lee, a talented transfer from Georgia
Tech, was hurt. The Dukes lost in the second round of the Football
Championship Subdivision playoffs to Colgate, 44-38. JMU was playing at
home after a first-round bye.
5-7? Hurt quarterback? It seems we're dealing with some lateral
circumstances here.
If Compher realizes he's in fourth-and-eight without Chizik, he would be
very wise to punt back to what he had with McNeill.
The situation isn't without precedent in the current administration. Dr.
Steve Ballard, ECU's retiring chancellor, almost hired Rick Hart as
athletic director before he re-evaluated and put Terry Holland in
charge.
Southern Methodist is excavating again from NCAA sanctions with Hart in
command.
It would take a big man to take Ruff back but it also might be the best
move remaining for everyone and everything involved.
The $1 million or so in savings from a buyout for McNeill could be
applied to some raises for ECU staff.
There hasn't been too much water under the bridge for that to work,
especially if Chizik isn't interested.
As one member of the Pirate Club board put it, "Chizik is a home run.
The rest are sacrifice flies."