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College Sports in the Carolinas
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from the 'ville
Thursday,
September 8, 2005
By Al Myatt |
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Uprooted USM reliving drama
of '99 Pirates
©2005 Bonesville.net
Southern Miss is in a situation that East
Carolina has dealt with before.
The Golden Eagles, ECU's first Conference USA
opponent on Oct. 1 in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, were displaced by Hurricane
Katrina late in preseason practice and their scheduled season-opening home
game with Tulane last weekend was postponed to Nov. 26.
The Green Wave, who do not appear on ECU's
schedule this season, moved to Dallas to set up their base of operations due
to the ravages of the storm in New Orleans.
Both teams have made adjustments because of
the natural disaster, a situation many Pirate fans as well as former players
and coaches can identify with after ECU's experiences in 1999.
Due to destruction in Hattiesburg, MS,
Southern Miss loaded up and moved its camp to Memphis. On Sept. 2, after a
5-day break in conditioning, the Eagles resumed their preparations for a
game Saturday at Alabama.
USM coach Jeff Bower said his players were
happy to get back on the practice field, comparing their attitude to that of
young children. Bower was asked about any possible silver linings for his
program following the devastation that gripped the Gulf Coast.
"They are a resilient bunch and maybe we don't
give enough credit to their resiliency," Bower said. "We've got over 35 guys
from Hattiesburg or south of there. A number of our players' families have
sustained total or substantial loss. We encouraged them to stay in touch
with them.
"I think this has brought our team together.
We all care about each other. We all hate to see teammates go through tough
times with their families. We've gotten closer."
Bower cited the value of football in diverting
the focus away from the plight that the region faces.
"They're excited to play a game," said the
15th-year Eagles coach. "I think it was a relief to get back on the field. I
didn't know what to expect, but the players were like kindergarteners."
The Eagles arrived in Memphis unsure of the
whereabouts of junior defensive back LeVance Richmond but were thankful to
have some comforts they had been lacking. Richmond was later located but
will not be making the trip to play Alabama this weekend with the Golden
Eagles.
"It was great to take a shower, have air
conditioned rooms and be able to eat a good meal," said junior linebacker
Wayne Hardy. "We appreciate the coaching staff giving us this opportunity to
get away so we can get back into the routine with football."
Classes at Southern Miss have been delayed
until Sept. 12. The Golden Eagles team will be returning to Hattiesburg
after playing the Crimson Tide. Bower said USM will host McNeese State,
which is located in Lake Charles, LA, as scheduled on Sept. 17. McNeese has
already had a game with Southern postponed because of Katrina.
"I've talked with our athletic director,
Richard Giannini, and we're going to play the (McNeese) game," Bower said.
"We need to do whatever we can for the spirit of the people in Hattiesburg
and on the Coast. They need to see football and that will raise their
spirits. We don't have damage to M.M. Roberts Stadium. Our practice field,
which had some trees down, is cleaned up.
"We will play that game."
ECU's football team became a healthy diversion
for some of those stricken by flood damage six years ago.
ECU's 1999 team was displaced by Hurricane
Floyd. The Pirates could not return to Greenville after a 21-3 win at South
Carolina. The team remained in Columbia, SC, and practiced there for a game
with Miami, that was moved to N.C. State's Carter-Finley Stadium because of
conditions in Greenville. The Pirates recorded one of the biggest wins in
school history as they rallied for an inspirational 27-23 victory over the
Hurricanes.
Southern Miss has missed practice time and
doesn't have the benefit of playing a game before meeting Alabama, but the
Golden Eagles may have an emotional wild card in the hole — as ECU did
against Miami in 1999. The Tide opened on Saturday by beating Middle
Tennessee, although Bower doesn't have tape of that game to assist in his
own program's preparations.
"Considering what we've been through, we've
played catch up and we'll be as ready as we can be," Bower said. "We've made
a lot of progress here. ... The layoff time hurts timing and precision. ...
We're doing what's best for the team and everything we can do to get the
team ready. Hopefully, we've pushed the right buttons."
Value of employee relations
How long has it been since ECU had a football
coach who was hired by a current, fulltime athletic director? Would you
believe 1994?
Yes, it's been that long. Steve Logan was
hired by former ECU AD Dave Hart in 1992 after Bill Lewis departed for
Georgia Tech. Hart gave Logan a shot in order to maintain continuity in a
successful program although a Tennessee assistant by the name of Phil Fulmer
was involved in the search process.
When Hart left for Florida State, Mike Hamrick
followed interim AD Henry VanSant in 1995. It has been documented that
Hamrick and Logan's professional relationship became increasingly
adversarial to the detriment of the program. Hamrick was involved in the
search process that produced Logan's successor, John Thompson, but Hamrick
left for the AD position at Nevada-Las Vegas before the Pirates played a
game under JT.
Nick Floyd served as interim AD during the
2003 season when the Pirates were 1-11 under Thompson.
After making an evaluation during the 2004
season, current AD Terry Holland relieved Thompson of his duties before
season's end.
The value of a solid working relationship
between a coach and AD was illustrated in Holland's rescheduling of the Duke
game, which he did after clearing the move with Holtz. Shifting the game
with the Blue Devils to last Saturday gave the Pirates an open date this
week and extra time to prepare for the game at Wake Forest on Sept. 17.
"I'm grateful to have it, very (grateful),"
Holtz said of the upcoming open date after the 24-21 win over Duke. "They
say you make the most progress from your first game to the second game. ...
Now we get to go back to the drawing board and back to practice, and start
working again and getting better against each other. This week will be like
spring practice. We will go a lot against each other. We will put pads on
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and we'll get after it pretty hard."
As far as his chain of command is concerned,
Holtz is appreciative of the support for his program.
"I'm very grateful to Chancellor (Steve)
Ballard, to Terry Holland and the leaders at this university, Nick Floyd,
for everything that they have done for this athletic program, for everything
they have done for this football program," Holtz said.
"They've given these players a chance to be
successful and these players are capitalizing on it."
Hudson provides perspective
ECU defensive coordinator Greg Hudson said
Holtz's staff hasn't ignored the struggles of the Pirates prior to their
arrival, which was capped with a 52-14 loss to N.C. State last season in
Charlotte for ECU's 22nd loss in its previous 25 games.
"You're only as good as your last game and the
last game was, you know," Hudson said. "It's been like a bank takeover. We
took over all the debt, too. We had to do some things as coaches — tell 'em
'Remember the past, but focus on the future.' "
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02/23/2007 12:33:32 AM
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