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Bailey's
Take on Pirate Sports
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From the Anchor Desk
Friday, June 21, 2002
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By Brian Bailey
Sports Anchor of WNCT-TV 9 |
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LeClair's advice deserves high
priority
©2002 Bonesville.net
Wednesday was a sad day at East Carolina University.
Keith LeClair, who came to East Carolina five years ago with goals that many
felt were unachievable, resigned his position because of his failing health.
But don’t think for one minute that Coach LeClair is giving up
on himself or on the objectives he has laid out for Pirate baseball.
He’s not!
LeClair knows what is best for this program, and what’s best at this
juncture is for ECU to move in the right direction — and LeClair should be given every opportunity to help decide that
crucial next step.
This is not an easy time in the East Carolina athletic department. There are
those, like myself, who would like to see Mike Hamrick name Kevin McMullan
as Keith LeClair’s successor.
If that’s what LeClair wants, then I think that’s the way it should be.
At the very least, LeClair should be a one-man search committee for Hamrick
and Chancellor Bill Muse. LeClair’s vote should carry the most weight,
especially if this is a national search for a new coach.
Hamrick deserves ample credit for hiring Keith LeClair
five years ago. There were candidates that many Pirate Club members and alumni wanted.
Billy Best, then an assistant at North
Carolina State, was considered the front-runner, and
there were those who were upset that someone in the Pirate family didn’t land the
job.
Best had worked under Gary Overton and was an ECU graduate. But Hamrick
found his man in LeClair.
How ironic is that? Now Keith LeClair is a huge part of that same Pirate
family.
I like Kevin McMullan. I think that the job he did, guiding this team
to a first-ever Conference USA championship, was tremendous. Just think about
the players that the Pirates lost after the 2001 season.
Coach Mac should be the leading candidate, especially since he has gotten
the endorsement from Coach LeClair.
According to a source close to the athletic department, Coach LeClair had
asked East Carolina athletic director to make McMullan an
associate head coach before the season. That source says that Hamrick
declined.
Hamrick has met with McMullan on at least two occasions since the end
of the season. I believe McMullan wants the head-coaching job, but he
also may be looking for work elsewhere if the vibes he is getting aren’t all
that positive from the Pirate athletic director.
This is a situation that needs to be resolved quickly. This is a very
important time for recruiting in baseball. The State Games of North Carolina
are coming up, an event which will feature some of the top talent in the
state.
There are other names that have surfaced, but as is the case with every
coaching search, the names are just possible candidates. Todd Raleigh was at
East Carolina in 1999 under LeClair, and is now at Western Carolina. Elon’s
Mike Kennedy and Coastal Carolina’s Gary Gilmore are also highly regarded,
and could emerge as candidates.
At the very least, LeClair should be consulted and his knowledge should be
used by the powers at ECU in naming a new coach. LeClair is the bravest of
warriors, the classiest of men, the kind of person that we all wish that we
could be.
He’s earned the honor of guiding the program in the direction that HE wants
it to go.
LeClair’s goal is to get this team to Omaha. His stamp should be on this
program for many years to come.
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Brian Bailey.
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archives.
02/23/2007 01:22:34 AM
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