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News Nuggets, 08.23.06
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Camp behind them, Pirates refocus on Navy

The second preseason camp in the Skip Holtz coaching era at East Carolina is history. The Pirates wrapped up the NCAA-specified 20-day preseason period with a physical two-and-a-half-hour, full-pad workout on Tuesday afternoon at the Cliff Moore Practice Complex, according to a university athletic media relations release.

With the start of classes on Wednesday, ECU will return to its in-season schedule which regularly will include daily 4 p.m. practices on Tuesday through Thursday with an off day each Monday.

"In short, camp is over," Holtzs said. "We hit Navy really hard yesterday and today, working a lot with the scout teams to learn what they do, and they do a lot both offensively and defensively.

"Navy gives you problems on what they do offensively," he added. "By the same token, what they do defensively is much different then our defense, so to our offense, it's learning a whole new scheme of things."

The Pirates will now focus their attention toward the final scrimmage of the preseason, set for Friday afternoon at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. After an off-day Saturday, East Carolina will begin its game-week schedule in earnest with a Sunday night workout in helmets and shorts beginning at 8:30 p.m.

"We're approaching the scrimmage on Friday as if we are playing the game against Navy," Holtz continued. "Our scout teams have done an unbelievable job at trying to simulate them but I don't think you can ever copy the same exact speed at which it's going to come at you on game-day."

Holtz indicated that Friday's scrimmage will afford him and his staff one last opportunity to evaluate personnel on both sides of the ball before releasing his first official in-season depth chart.

"It will be played like a game," Holtz said. "We will put the coaches upstairs and make this a dry-run. This is will be our dress rehearsal for our opener."

Senior wide receiver Bobby Good (foot) returned to action Tuesday after missing the last few days of work. Reserve quarterbacks Brett Clay, Rob Kass and Patrick Pinkney experienced the majority of the snaps during the contact portion of Tuesday's session in order to give senior James Pinkney a slight rest before heading into game-week mode.

True freshman Dwayne Harris (Stone Mountain, Ga.) and sophomore transfer Wayne Hunter (Manteo, N.C.) took turns guiding the scout team offense at quarterback.

The Pirates will conduct walk-on tryouts at the conclusion of Thursday's practice.

ECU's matchup against Navy will open a four-game series between the two programs. The Pirates and Midshipmen are scheduled to meet again in 2010 (Greenville), 2011 (Annapolis) and 2012 (Greenville). This year's season opener at Navy is scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. kickoff on Sept. 2.

ECU checking student body for diamond talent

Open tryouts for walk-ons will be held by the East Carolina baseball program on Sept. 11-12 at Clark-LeClair Stadium starting at 6:30 p.m., according to an announcement from the university's athletic media relations department.

All participants must complete a health history questionnaire and return it to the athletic training room on the first floor of the Ward Sports Medicine Building no later than 48 hours before tryouts begin.

All interested ECU students should contact the baseball office at (252) 737-1985 for more information.

Potential Pirate softball players will also have an opportunity at open walk-on tryouts on Sept. 8 at the ECU softball field starting at 5 p.m. Anyone wishing to come out for the team must have a completed medical release form completed prior to tryouts.

All interested ECU students should contact the softball office at (252) 737-1428 or email [email protected] to confirm a tryout spot.

Buckeyes' bank account $wells in 2005-06

Ohio State is No. 1 in both the coaches (USA Today) and writers (Associated Press) preseason football polls but the hometown Columbus Dispatch also has reported that the Buckeyes are apparently No. 1 in another sense.

The Ohio State athletics department totaled $101.5 million in proceeds during the 2005-2006 fiscal year that ended June 30, according to documents requested by the newspaper.

OSU might be the first to reach $100 million in revenue, but Dennis Howard, a professor in the University of Oregon�s Warsaw Sports Marketing Center, said "there are others that are close behind," including Texas, which trailed OSU in revenue by only $50,000 during the 2004-2005 school year.

Fiscal results for the Longhorns� most-recent season won�t be completed until the end of this month, but an official of the Austin school said its revenue should total about $94 million.

OSU athletics director Gene Smith said reaching $100 million in revenue is "a great milestone" for the program. He projected future revenue growth of 5 percent to 6 percent annually. The sports program receives no university funding and contributes millions to the Ohio State general fund.

With strong financial support for Buckeye football, the overall sports program netted a $2.9 million surplus for last school year.

Despite several off-the-field financial hits related to NCAA penalties and a lawsuit by former basketball coach Jim O�Brien, the fiscal results were significantly better than 2004-05, when the OSU department lost $920,000 on $88.8 million in revenue.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically based on material supplied by staff members; data published by ECU, Conference USA and its member schools; and reports from other sources. Copyright 2006 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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