GREENVILLE Not long ago, a narrow win over Duke would
have registered as a seismic disappointment for East Carolina. That was a
period when the Pirates and Blue Devils existed on opposite ends of the
football spectrum.
There was ECU, which for much of the 90's held the
distinction of being the state's gridiron capital. Then you had Duke, the
home of pigskin purgatory.
But during the last two seasons, East Carolina looked more
like Duke in disguise. Had the Pirates worn blue and called Wallace-Wade
home, there likely wouldn't have been much difference in the lopsided
outcomes to which the Blue Devils were regularly victim.
That's how far ECU had fallen in the sport on which its
athletics foundation was built.
With their 24-21 win over Duke, the Pirates perhaps took
their first step towards reclaiming their status as a proud football school.
From almost every angle coaching, player execution, and fan enthusiasm
Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium appeared more like 1995 instead of what was predicted
for 2005.
And it occurred on an afternoon when ECU owned the stage
among North Carolina's Division I-A schools.
"I didn't look at it in that big of a light," first-year
Pirates coach Skip Holtz said. "I had a hard time looking outside of them
lines, just on what was going to happen on that field.
"Somebody told me that from a television standpoint, it
was the only game in the state, but I didn't go any farther than that. It
being an in-state game, I knew it was going to have some state presence
about it. Obviously, the western side of the state was going to be brought
in a little bit more... I think the center of the state is Greenville."
That certainly was the case Saturday.
The Pirates not only seized the spotlight, but defended it
with renewed urgency and spirit. The same defense that has been noted
primarily for making opposing quarterbacks secured the victory by
breaking one.
And the same personnel that once appeared disorganized and
disinterested, looked prepared from the get-go and had the desire to play
two extra quarters.
"Buying in is not something you take for granted," Holtz
said. "These players have had four coaches in four years. A lot of these
guys have had four coordinators in four years.
"And when you walk into this team meeting room and you
start talking to them, it's real easy for them to sit there and say, 'Well,
why should I listen to you? You're the fourth guy who stood in front of me
in four years. It takes a lot of trust and it takes a lot of faith for those
guys to put their careers, to put their football in our hands and say,
'Coach, you got me, tell me what to do.'"
Give Holtz a solid 'A' for that.
Introducing a new group of coaches, another playbook, and
establishing immediate chemistry is a difficult task by any measure. Doing
it at program with three wins in two years magnifies that effort, especially
when you consider the overall lack of confidence that existed when Holtz
took over.
"This is the beginning of a new era," senior linebacker
Richard Koonce said. "The thing is, though, this is what we we expect. We
went out there and we did what we do in practice.
"We haven't done anything superhuman out there. We were
doing what we did every day in camp and in spring ball. This is what we
expect. The defense of the past that's not even in our minds anymore."
Maybe not. But it will take a few more performances like
Saturday to completely heal the wounds the program has suffered over the
past couple of years.
It's a bit premature to label Holtz the savior of ECU
football, but he sure got off to one heck of a start.
