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College Sports in the Carolinas
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from the 'ville
Thursday,
September 1, 2005
By Al Myatt |
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Duke game offers shot at
validation
©2005 Bonesville.net
East Carolina coach Skip Holtz is down with
new Conference USA as a viable football league and says a win over Duke on
Saturday would support the issue of C-USA's competitiveness with Bowl
Championship Series conferences.
C-USA is now comprised of two divisions with
the Pirates joined in the East by Memphis, Southern Miss and UAB along with
new members Central Florida and Marshall. The West includes Houston and
Tulane from the league's old guard plus new guys SMU, Rice, Tulsa and UTEP.
"Geographically, it's taken on a lot broader
spectrum than it has in the past," Holtz said of the league, which will hold
its first championship game between the division winners on Dec. 3. "It's an
excellent conference as far as the competitiveness and quality of football.
"When you look at some of the wins this
conference has had over some BCS conference teams, there's a great brand of
football being played here."
In 2004, Southern Miss knocked off traditional
Big 12 power Nebraska and Memphis whipped Ole Miss from the SEC. UAB was
victorious against a couple of power conference foes Baylor of the Big 12
and Mississippi State of the SEC.
The Pirates on the other hand haven't beaten a
non-conference Division I-A opponent since turning back Texas Tech in the
2000 Galleryfurniture Bowl in Houston.
The first foe in the Holtz era hails from the
ACC, of course. The Pirates have lost eight straight to ACC teams since
pummeling Duke 38-0 to open the 2000 season.
"Do I think us being able to make headway with
Duke would make a difference?" Holtz said. "I do. I think everybody in the
conference that plays somebody out of the conference we're making a
statement for how strong this conference can be."
ECU athletic director Terry Holland has
finalized games with more ACC teams North Carolina, N.C. State, Virginia
and Virginia Tech in seasons to come.
"We're going to have an opportunity to play a
lot of BCS conference schools," Holtz said. "I think how we fare there will
have a lot to do with the respect that we get around the country for where
we are as a league."
Opportunities for C-USA to enhance its
football image at the expense of BCS opponents start tonight. The Thursday
lineup includes Oregon at Houston, Minnesota at Tulsa and Central Florida at
South Carolina.
Baylor is at SMU on Saturday and UAB visits
Tennessee.
Camp's over, season's here
Coach Holtz said he was generally pleased with
his team's effort and improvement in preseason workouts, which ended Sunday
night as the Pirates shifted their focus to preparing for Duke.
"We told them if we were going to make up as
much ground as we have to make up we get the same number of practices as
everybody else we're just going to have to make the most of it by getting
more accomplished," Holtz said of the preseason approach. "We can't just go
out there and go through the motions. We have to get better every day."
The bitter memory of going 3-20 the last two
seasons has provided motivation, Holtz said.
"I think they're tired of losing," said the
Pirates coach. "They want to turn this thing around. They want to be the
team that started the tide turning in the right way. I've really been
pleased with the leadership that we received out of the team and the
progress that we've made."
But Holtz isn't optimistic to the point of
overlooking some potential trouble areas. The defense, he says, is probably
ahead of the offense.
"My concerns are that we have a quarterback
(James Pinkney) who missed spring practice," Holtz said. "He's only been in
this offense for 29 days. I've got some concerns just with his decision
making in rapid fire. He's really done a nice job but as you know when the
live bullets start flying around and things start happening at a faster
speed at the quarterback position, it's all about a decision making process.
"Knowledge is power and I just don't know if
we have enough overall understanding of everything yet."
It may not reassure ECU's first-year coach but
Pinkney said learning a new offense is nothing new to him.
"I've been in a different offense for the last
three years," said the junior from Delray Beach, Fla. "Learning a new
offense is something I'm used to."
The Pirates have also dealt with a number of
players coming back from injuries.
"We've had a hard time getting everybody out
there to get any kind of continuity or consistency," Holtz said.
Still, the effort has been there.
"As I've said, I've really been pleased with
the way they're working," Holtz said. "If we can't turn this thing around,
especially this year, it certainly won't be from any lack of effort on the
players part."
Saturday will provide some answers as to which
area program, the Pirates or Blue Devils, takes a first step down the
rebuilding road.
"I'm really anxious to run out there on the
field," Holtz said. "Probably as we start getting closer, I'll be a little
nervous but I think every year I've been in coaching I've been a little
nervous going into the opener because you just don't know what to expect
yet.
"For the last eight months we've just been
playing with each other."
Like all teams, ECU is ready to play.
"I announced to the players on Sunday, when we
had a meeting, 'You know we're out of camp now and we're into the season,' "
Holtz said. "They stood up and gave a standing ovation. They're tired of
hearing us talk and they're tired of hitting on each other. They're really
ready to play the season."
Go with what you know
Holtz has been a part of successful
turnarounds at Connecticut and South Carolina. He has also served on winning
staffs at Notre Dame and Florida State. And, of course, he grew up in an
atmosphere that provided numerous opportunities for coaching insight as the
son of Lou Holtz.
"How long it takes is really what kind of
salesmen we are with our players how fast we get our players to buy in to
our program and get everybody on the same page," he said. "A lot of times
there are players kind of sitting there with one foot in and one foot out
and saying, 'Well, if this works then I'll jump in.' If it doesn't work,
then 'I'm going to jump out. I knew this wouldn't work.'
"In order to win, when you get enough players
to jump in with both feet is when the program's going to turn around."
Holtz said the timetable can be one to four
years. A solid staff gives ECU fans hope that the Pirates can be on the
short end of that range. But Holtz is aware that the key is how well the
players execute and not how much his staff knows.
The test for where the program is starts at 1
p.m. on Saturday. Pinkney will only be working with a portion of the ECU
playbook.
"I don't think we're going to have a chance to
compete in this game because of what we know as coaches," Holtz said. "We
know our own offense and defense. These players have to go out and execute.
You try to go out and do too much and you have a lot of missed assignments.
You don't know where to go with the ball and they're running the wrong
routes. The line doesn't know how to protect. You're never giving your
players a chance.
"We have to be simple enough that our players
can execute a game plan because that's what it's all about being able to
go out and understanding and knowing what they're doing. Probably one of the
biggest faults that I made when I went to Connecticut and probably what a
lot of head coaches do they try to do too much too early. The players
aren't ready to handle it.
"I know we lost our first two games when I was
at Connecticut. After our first season we went back and really simplified
everything and we went from four wins to eight wins with half the offense.
It was a valuable lesson for me that when you go into a program, right now
everybody is a freshman as far as this offense or defense is concerned."
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02/23/2007 12:33:31 AM
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