By
Denny O'Brien
©2010 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.
It’s easy to understate
the impact Billy Godwin has had on the East Carolina baseball program.
Given the Pirates’
historical success on the diamond, it’s hard not to take for granted the
accomplishments of any skipper who commands the ECU dugout.
Even when wool attire and
wooden weapons were the gear du jour, the Pirates were a formidable
force on the diamond. The track record for postseason success has been
unparalleled by any other sport at ECU, and that has generated a mindset
in which NCAA Tournament appearances are the expectation, not the goal.
From a distance, it’s
almost tempting to suggest that coaches have been interchangeable within
the ECU program. From Hal Baird to Keith LeClair, there has been no
shortage of baseball frontmen who were considered among the best in
their profession.
But to assume that ECU
baseball can run on autopilot is dismissing the parameters that
essentially led to Godwin’s hiring.
Given the job on
semi-short notice, he was asked to tidy a mess left by the previous
regime. That meant establishing a new way for handling things
internally, retrofitting the inherited talent into his managerial style,
and establishing a recruiting blueprint that would return the Pirates to
a path that pointed towards Omaha.
That it took him only four
seasons to reach an NCAA Super Regional qualifies him as a proven
builder. That he enters this season with even greater expectations —
despite the loss of several key sluggers — now places him in the
category of reloader.
The next obvious step is
Omaha, and Godwin already is demonstrating signs of his ability to guide
the Pirates there.
Any doubters need look no
further than the NCAA Regional the Pirates hosted last year. There the
Pirates faced inclement weather and an early loss to South Carolina, yet
rebounded to win four games in three days.
When you consider how
shrewd Godwin was in managing his pitching staff, along with the resolve
he instilled in his team, it should be remembered as one of the best
weekends of coaching ever witnessed at East Carolina, regardless of
sport.
For Godwin and the Pirates
to leap over their final hurdle, there is no shortage of challenges that
await. Big-barreled ones, too.
“It is very difficult,”
Godwin said. “You look at where we are, and we’re right in the middle of
ACC country. We’re surrounded by great programs in Virginia, North
Carolina, and in South Carolina.
“To get to Omaha, you
really have to play some stiff competition in our region of the country.
After playing five games in three days like we did in our Regional last
year, it showed how important it is to host. What we need to do now is
to host a Super Regional.”
He’s right. College
baseball, specifically in this region, is flooded with an abundance of
premier programs that are regulars in June. In North Carolina alone,
there are as many as seven programs that begin each season with a
reasonable expectation of reaching the postseason.
When you add bordering
states Virginia and South Carolina and extend over to Georgia, there is
no shortage of college baseball powerhouses within home run distance.
That sets the stage for challenging match-ups in NCAA Regional action
given the way the NCAA prefers to regionalize teams in the postseason.
The resulting gauntlet
paves a difficult path to Omaha, regardless of who the Pirates encounter
in the postseason. And that wouldn’t be so bad if it were the only land
mine Godwin is facing.
An even bigger obstacle is
the stiff competition he faces on the recruiting trail. There, unlike
most other sports at ECU, he can make a legitimate run at some of the
nation’s elite, but to do so he must battle some of the giants in the
business.
Though he certainly
doesn’t win them all, he’s demonstrating regularly that he can more than
hold his own.
There are more challenges,
too. Like the schedule, which is hardly the cream-puff type that can
inflate the overall record. Both in conference and out, the Pirates
simply don’t have too many automatic W’s on the slate.
And while it’s hard to
measure the impact of membership outside of a BCS automatic qualifier
conference, there is no doubt that the extra funds those leagues
generate could benefit ECU’s baseball cause.
That’s not to say that ECU
doesn’t have some built-in advantages. It clearly does. Tradition, a
first-class facility, access to a fertile recruiting area, and a devoted
fan base all have benefited the Pirates’ cause.
Even so, winning in
baseball at ECU isn’t as easy as many assume. It certainly isn’t a
foregone conclusion.
Godwin is beginning to
make it look like it is. And my hunch is that he will be the coach who
eventually guides the Pirates to their ultimate goal.