Fish Wrapper Chronicles

From 'One-Eyed Jack'

— It's time for One-Eyed Jack to start putting a wrap on a torturous football season during which the Pirates sorely missed the battle-earned scars of the likes of graduated linchpins David Garrard, Leonard Henry and Pernell Griffin. The new campaign's more youthful band of buccaneers tentatively navigated stormy seas on the field while fending off nagging distractions from the home front.

— One-Eye has it on good authority that the old political correctness virus still afflicts a couple of mid-level bureaucrats in the ECU athletic department, who were recently rankled at the sight of the Flying Bones circling the skies around Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. On the other hand, maybe it's not the P.C. virus after all, but the busy-body bug. But there's more... With his one and only eye, One-Eye has been snooping and peering around for a glimpse of a home-grown ECU mark which is said to be in the works on campus and which may drive those who prefer kinder, gentler logos into therapy.

— Remember our old friend Tom Yeager? He wears two hats these days, serving as chairman of the NCAA infractions committee while continuing in his long-time role as commissioner of the Colonial Athletic Association. It's in his NCAA persona that he may have indirectly influenced Alabama coach Dennis Franchione to jump ship for luxurious refuge in College Station. Yeager's bloodhounds, it seems, may be on the trail of evidence that more shenanigans occurred in Tuscaloosa before Coach Fran's arrival than than the ones administrators owned up to. The admitted malfeasances, involving sleazy dealings with Memphis high school coaches, resulted in severe penalties, which the former Texas Christian coach seemed prepared to live with after taking over the program that Bear built. The prospect of the 'death penalty', however, was not factored into Franchione's loyalty to 'Bama — and that could be the sanction the school faces if new revelations are serious or indicate a cover-up. After all, Yeager has been quoted as saying the NCAA seriously pondered that ultimate punishment for the previous infractions.

— Irony of ironies. Two days after WNCT-TV 9 sports anchor and Bonesville columnist Brian Bailey speculated on the good will that could have been nurtured by an East Carolina-ESPN effort to cast a live spotlight on area high school playoff games during the ECU-Cincinnati telecast, The News & Observer reports that the Mickey Mouse sports network (or, in the interest of diplomacy,  "the sports network of Mickey Mouse") makes a last-minute overture to the NCHSAA to do precisely something along those lines. Might the high schools' angry reply of 'Nyet' been different had the proposal been broached in an open and forward-thinking manner by ECU and ESPN officials last summer while the game was being contemplated? We'll never know.

— The Pirate Club always needs more members and, from what we understand, it recently got one worth noting in the Fish Wrapper Chronicles. Jeff Connors, ECU's strength coach for a decade before taking over the muscle-building chores in Chapel Hill, contributed $500 to help fund scholarships for Pirate athletes.

— It's the time of year when schools around the country evaluate their field generals and make personnel decisions. At ECU, in the wake of his team's first losing season since 1997, Cap'n Logan's rock-solid security isn't what it once was. As has been reported, Logan's multi-year contract was not rolled over last December. It's not a stretch, however, to figure that he'll be given the opportunity to steer the flagship program he has nurtured back onto the course boosters have come to expect — albeit with an adjusted lineup of lieutenants and a well-defined set of objectives.

— What has not been reported, to the best we can determine, is that Logan's contract wasn't the only one not rolled over last go-round. It turns out that Pirate A.D. Mike Hamrick's pact was not extended when it came up for renewal last spring.