News Nuggets, 02.03.04
NOTES FROM ECU AND BEYOND...

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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Chancellor search panel trims list of candidates

While news has been scarce about East Carolina's pursuit of a new athletic director, its hunt for a new CEO is apparently making tangible progress.

According to a Monday press release from the school's news bureau, ECU's chancellor search committee has identified about 10 individuals who will be invited to participate in interviews.

The search panel, meeting on the ECU campus, narrowed the list from about 50 active applicants, said the announcement.

Jim Talton, chairman of the committee and of the ECU Board of Trustees, said the group is "very excited about the quality of the candidates and about the opportunity to meet some of them."

Talton indicated the interviews will be scheduled Feb. 23 and 24 in Raleigh.

Phyllis Horns, dean of the School of Nursing and secretary to the committee, said the committee will decide after the interviews if additional interviews are needed and whether the finalists will be invited to Greenville to meet with various groups on campus.

The committee will recommend a list of finalists to the ECU Board of Trustees, which in turn will present three finalists to Molly Broad, president of the University of North Carolina system.

Broad will select the new ECU chancellor, subject to confirmation by the UNC Board of Governors.

The ECU board plans to make its recommendations to Broad by March 8, Horns said. She described the candidate pool as "distinguished, strong and diverse."

The school's search for an athletic director is being conducted by a separate committee headed by Stephen Showfety, vice-chairman of ECU's board of trustees.

Former ECU chancellor William Muse resigned last September, only two months after the resignation of former Pirates AD Mike Hamrick. Both left amid a swirl of controversy.

Various university constituents have been at odds over whether the hunt for an AD should be put on the backburner until the new chancellor is hired and in position to influence the process.

Key dates on ECU's 2004 football schedule emerge

East Carolina has yet to release its 2004 football schedule, but you can go ahead and mark your calendar for two of the Pirates' non-conference games.

The dates for ECU's games with in-state rivals Wake Forest and N.C. State were pegged at opposite ends of the season when Atlantic Coast Conference schools released their 2004 schedules on Monday.

The Pirates will host the Demon Deacons on Saturday, Sept 11, and will meet the Wolfpack at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte on Saturday, Nov. 27.

Wake will open its season at Clemson on Sept 4 before making the trek down I-40 and U.S. 264 the following Saturday for its first visit to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium since 2001.

State will host Florida State on Nov. 11 and then have a 16-day layoff before tangling with ECU on the Saturday after Thanksgiving at the Carolina Panthers' home Stadium. It will be the first meeting between the schools since the Pirates defeated the Pack in Greenville in 1999.

East Carolina is also expected to play a non-league contest at West Virginia next season in addition to an eight-game lineup of Conference USA opponents.

Associated Press basketball poll

The top 25 teams in The Associated Press' men's college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Feb. 1, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and previous ranking:

[Conference USA and Carolinas teams in bold.]

Rank/Team/Record/Points/Previous
 1. Duke 44 18-1 1767 1
 2. Stanford 26 18-0 1749 2
 3. Saint Joseph's 2 18-0 1660 3
 4. Pittsburgh 0 20-1 1485 7
 5. Connecticut 0 17-3 1476 6
 6. Louisville 0 16-2 1353 4
 7. Mississippi State 0 18-1 1350 11
 8. Gonzaga 0 17-2 1330 10
 9. Kentucky 0 14-3 1229 5
10. Cincinnati 0 15-2 1008 8
11. Texas 0 14-3 968 16
12. Arizona 0 14-4 963 9
13. Oklahoma State 0 15-2 962 18
14. Wisconsin 0 14-3 860 17
15. Georgia Tech 0 16-4 800 14
16. Wake Forest 0 13-4 683 19
17. North Carolina 0 13-5 607 12
18. Syracuse 0 14-3 586 20
19. Texas Tech 0 16-4 545 13
20. Kansas 0 13-4 513 15
21. Florida 0 13-5 178 22
22. Oklahoma 0 13-4 172 25
23. Providence 0 14-4 156 23
24. Utah State 0 17-1 152 NR
25. South Carolina 0 18-3 150 24

Others Receiving Votes: Air Force 116, Vanderbilt 113, Seton Hall 101, Southern Illinois 65, North Carolina State 58, Florida State 53, Marquette 49, Dayton 27, Purdue 26, Charlotte 20, Creighton 17, Western Michigan 17, Memphis 10, Hawaii 7, Kent State 4, Rice 4, Illinois 3, Michigan State 3, Iowa State 2, Vermont 2, Virginia Commonwealth 1.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically from staff, ECU, Conference USA and its member schools, and from Associated Press and other reports. Copyright 2004 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Page Updated: 02/23/2007