News, Analysis and Opinion from Bonesville's Denny O'Brien

Pirate Notebook No. 122
Wednesday, April 23, 2003

By Denny O'Brien
Staff Writer and Columnist

Based on the criteria by which East Carolina selects its sports Hall of Fame members, the fact that Ed Emory hasn't been enshrined must be a glaring oversight.

If the Pirates' lane of legends is a neighborhood reserved for those who made the biggest impact on ECU sports, the case for Emory is pretty cut and dry.

True, it can be argued that neither his 24-29 overall record as the Pirates head football coach, nor his solid — not great — career as an offensive lineman exude hall-of-fame credentials. But with Emory, it wasn't so much about the accomplishments — and yes, there were many — as it was the manner in which he achieved them.

Perhaps more than any player or coach, Emory personified that chip-on-the-shoulder mentality that has long personified the Pirates' inspired uphill battles. For an athletics program that has built its reputation on overcoming adversity, Emory is more than just a figurehead for beating the odds.

At a very young age, he overcame a speech impediment, persisted with school and with football, ultimately using his burly physique to earn a scholarship at East Carolina as a tough, gritty offensive lineman. Battling injuries, he climbed atop the Pirates depth chart as a freshman, where he remained a starter throughout his career.

Later, after paying his dues along the high school circuit and stints as an assistant at Wake Forest and Clemson, Emory fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming the head coach of the Pirates, even though at times, leading the East Carolina football program must have seemed like a nightmare.

During his five seasons at the helm, ECU's facilities were subpar, money was scarce, and then-athletics director Ken Karr provided little in the way of support for the Pirates' bread-and-butter program.

Still, Emory somehow managed to construct that memorable 1983 team, a group that finished 8-3 with losses only to Miami, Florida State, and Florida by a combined 13 points.

It was that team which proved East Carolina could be a major force on the national landscape. And it was that team that provided the barometer against which each season is now measured.

Lacking sufficient funds to compete head-to-head in the economic jungle of Division I-A level, Emory rebuilt the Pirates program with his two bare hands. Recruiting trips were often funded by his own bank account, which when you account for the fact that he made a paltry $35,000 per year, was a sacrifice few in his profession would make.

At a time when school pride was paramount to the program's success and regional rivalries were at an all-time high, Emory banned players from wearing enemy gear. He was so appalled by the sight of baby blue that he once ripped a North Carolina tee-shirt off a player and threatened to take away meal privileges from any player who did it again.

Many of ECU's current gridiron luxuries can also be traced to the Emory era. Today, Pirates players add bulk in a luxurious strength and conditioning palace — the Murphy Center — a vision that began in the late 70s with Emory, a bar, and one 25-pound plate.

Academics are now a strong suit within the program, but that hasn't always been the case. After inheriting a team with more than half its players ineligible, Emory organized a group of academic counselors and set up a study hall in the cafeteria.

He did all this because he had a strong passion for East Carolina and he had a clear vision for its gridiron future. Even more importantly, though, he cared deeply about his players and their personal success, both on the field and off.

And when you get down to it, Emory's innate ability to relate to players and serve as a source of discipline, encouragement, and motivation — especially in times of adversity — is what defined him as a coach. That is essentially why he is revered by his former players and has become a folk hero among the Pirates public.

So, the question remains: Why does East Carolina refuse to recognize Ed Emory with its greatest athletics honor?

That answer probably lies somewhere in the vague NCAA allegations against Emory and the Pirates program that conveniently accompanied his dismissal following the '84 season. Many of those accusations were overblown by the media and were for acts grounded in common sense and decency — kind and merciful gestures which nowadays would be considered legal by college football's governing body or, in some cases, actually funded by special NCAA programs.

“Whatever the NCAA says, I never bought no players,” Emory said in a story in Bonesville.net The Magazine. “I never paid anyone.

"I did buy a player a Thanksgiving Day dinner once when he had nowhere to go, and I would give a kid a pillow if he needed one. That’s not cheating, that’s being human.”

But it could be considered cheating to withhold from Emory the honor he has long deserved. In legal terms, it's a prime case of grand larceny — and it's time for justice to be served.

Tension is high between Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese and ACC boss John Swofford.

In a recent story in the New York Daily News, Tranghese accused Swofford of pursuing Miami, Syracuse, Boston College, and Virginia Tech, a move that, if it were successful, would produce a major shakeup in college sports.

While Swofford insists that there have been no formal invitations to any of the current Big East schools, he also didn't deny discussions with them. The perception that the ACC has, indeed, rekindled expansion discussions, along with the league's sneaky methods for conducting business, has caused quite a stir along the eastern seaboard.

There's no question that if the ACC were to expand it would be motivated by football and the desire to have a 12-team league, which is an NCAA requirement for holding a title game at the end of the season.

Though expansion would certainly strengthen the ACC's football profile, it would almost assuredly weaken the league in basketball. Of the four schools believed to have been contacted, only Syracuse would add to the league's hardwood tradition.

Another potential side effect could be the significant monetary hit to several of the schools' bank accounts. Already a member of the Bowl Championship Series, the ACC splits its share of the pie nine ways, as opposed to 12 in the Big XII and SEC, 11 in the Big Ten, and ten in the Pac 10.

Distribution from the ACC's always bulging piggy bank has provided much of the means for league members to upgrade football facilities in recent years, as well as an overflow of cash to support Olympic sports.

If I were Swofford, I would think long and hard before seeking conference expansion. I would drop the shady tactics, too.

Could North Carolina's hiring of Roy Williams have a domino effect on Conference USA? Possibly.

As expected, Kansas filled its vacant post by hiring Illinois coach Bill Self, a former Jayhawks assistant. Believed to be the top candidate to replace Self in Champaign is Marquette coach Tom Crean, who guided the Golden Eagles to the Final Four this season.

If Crean remains in Milwaukee and convinces Dwyane Wade to stick around for his senior season, the Eagles would almost certainly begin next season in the Top 5.

An exit by Crean could prompt Wade to announce his intentions to enter the NBA draft — which many suspect he will, anyway — meaning a rebuilding season for an Eagles program Crean worked tirelessly to restore.