CHRONICLING ECU & C-USA SPORTS
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View
from the 'ville
Thursday,
April 27, 2006
By Al Myatt |
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Pirate ship afloat again on
rising tide
The drought is over for a program
that 'rainmaker' Skip Holtz has refocused on accountability and leadership
©2006 Bonesville.net
There's something historical about rain and
East Carolina football.
Give the Pirates some precipitation and they
used to do great things — like roll to a 23-7 win at South Carolina in 1996
as running back Scott Harley squirted through gaping holes like a gushing
hydrant for an astounding total of 291 yards.
ECU took a damp 50-29 win in Charlotte over
N.C. State that same season as Harley shattered his own school rushing
record with an incredible 351 yards.
The monsoon-like torrents that besieged
Greenville with Hurricane Floyd in 1999 were followed by that memorable
27-23 conquest of Miami in Raleigh.
Syracuse came to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in 2000
and it poured. Junior quarterback David Garrard and the Pirates also poured
it on the Orangemen, 34-17. It was one of his best days in purple.
Maybe rain was just a little extra adversity
that brought out the best in a program that was continually faced with
overcoming odds. Maybe moisture is just in keeping with the blustery nature
of real Pirates, who experienced no shortage of water in plying their trade
on the high seas.
There was a time when ECU fans were
conditioned to think, "It's raining; we're gonna win."
Ahh, yes ... the good old days. There was
something reassuring about the rain on Wednesday night for those whose cars
in that parking lot off of I-95 had Pirate decals on the windows. They're
part of a fan base eager to reconnect with the past.
The Johnston-Harnett chapter of the Pirate
Club, which is headed up by Perry Hudson, the all-time leader in terms of
membership recruitment, convened at the Brass Lantern Restaurant at exit 72
in Dunn.
It was a time to welcome home native sons
Jimmy Bass and J.J. McLamb, who have recently returned to Greenville in
roles supporting athletic director Terry Holland. The parched landscape was
getting a much-needed shower as ECU supporters chatted over heavy hors
d'oeuvres inside.
The Pirate faithful can relate to dry spells.
After all, they sipped from the victory cup just three times in the 2003 and
2004 seasons. Thank goodness and Holland for the rainmaker, football coach
Skip Holtz, who has arrived like an irrigation specialist in the midst of a
desert.
Not only was there perceptible improvement in
the program during his first season, Holtz expressed to Wednesday night's
attentive gathering a method for continuing an upward curve from the 5-6
season in 2005 that concluded with momentum-building wins over Marshall and
UAB.
I don't know if I've ever heard a football
coach recite poetry. But Holtz did that to reinforce themes he was
conveying. He told a few jokes, which is standard fare on the banquet
circuit. He may tell every Pirate Club chapter pretty close to the same
thing, but there is substance in his approach to his players.
"Nobody wants to be accountable anymore for
their actions and that's the biggest thing we're trying to do," Holtz said.
"Once you get a group of young men and get a positive attitude in where
they're trying to go and what they're trying to build, we've got to make
them accountable to each other."
Accountability in this sense is doing what
you're supposed to do within the team context when you're supposed to do it.
Holtz said there are three means of building
accountability — recruiting, deleting and developing. Holtz said he and his
staff check out more than physical talent in recruiting players. They want
players who will conform to expected levels academically and socially.
A 4-star player with behavioral baggage is not
likely to get a scholarship offer from ECU these days. Discipline is one
reason the team grade point average is up to over 2.5 from around 2.0 over
the last year. Holtz also said there are 33 players with a 2.7 average or
better compared to just five when he and his staff came in.
Juniors who are creating problems by not going
to class, study hall, workouts or meetings are getting an adios from the
program. Seniors who aren't helping underclassmen solve problems are gone,
too. That's the deleting process. It strengthens the program by eliminating
those who aren't sufficiently committed.
Holtz said there are six senior-led teams
within the team whose purpose is to reinforce accountability. Those who
don't do what they're supposed to do when they're supposed to do it, like
premier receiver Aundrae Allison, who missed a study hall, must run for
their senior leaders early on Saturday mornings.
Holtz said Allison got no special treatment.
The coach was on his way to his car when he saw Allison throwing up at the
conclusion of his disciplinary running session. When one of the senior
leaders has an accountability issue, such as missing a class, all of the
seniors must run. That's real peer pressure, but in a positive sense, and
it's developing that desired accountability factor.
The result is that the Pirate ship has
tightened up. ECU went from 71st in Division I-A in pass defense in 2004 to
No. 20 last season with much of the same personnel. The Pirates climbed from
a dismal 105th in total offense to No. 47 over the same span.
Holtz knows what he's doing and also knows
that there are potential Pirate players out there who are capable of making
rainy days joyous occasions once again. Still, the 2006 schedule, while
attractive to the fans, is pretty brutal for a program that is just getting
to its feet from a precipitous fall.
In addition to Conference USA battles, ECU has
a non-conference lineup that includes Navy, West Virginia, Virginia and N.C.
State — all of which won bowl games to finish the 2005 season.
Holtz delivered his punchline about the
demanding schedule.
"It's got me sleeping like a baby," he said.
"I wake up every two hours and cry."
That's good banquet material, but the
leadership of the football program is no laughing matter. This guy and his
lieutenants can get it done. ECU fans can look forward to the ride. They
just need to make sure their Pirate Club dues — and flood insurance — are
paid up.
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02/23/2007 12:30:11 AM
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