By
W.A.
Myatt
©2014 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
Heather Macy has the East
Carolina women's basketball team playing exceptionally well thus far
in the 2013-14 season. The Lady Pirates are 21-3 overall and 9-2 in
Conference USA heading into a game at Texas-San Antonio on Thursday
night.
The ECU women have been
especially successful at home. They are 13-0 in Williams Arena at
Minges Coliseum this season and were 14-1 last season when Macy was
named C-USA Coach of the Year. The Lady Pirates were rewarded as a
team with a bid to last year's Women's NIT.
Macy has a record of 71-47 in
three-plus seasons at ECU and is 34-25 in C-USA during that span.
The former Greensboro College player has been an assistant coach at
Catawba, Lenoir-Rhyne, High Point and Maryland-Baltimore County. She
was a head coach at Pfeiffer and Francis Marion before coming to
ECU. Her overall record as a head coach is 186-86.
Macy spoke with Bonesville during
a break on the recruiting trail on Monday.
Q: What is your favorite restaurant?
A: I do zero cooking so I keep the majority
of restaurants in Greenville open. I do most of my dining out. Any
restaurant that is a Pirates Supporting Pirates.
Q: What is your favorite TV show?
A: I like 'Law and Order.'
Q: Who is your favorite musical artist?
A: John Mayer.
Q: What is your favorite movie?
A: The war movie (Lone Survivor) with Mark
Wahlberg. I took my entire team to see it. That's the most recent
movie I've seen.
Q: What was your highlight as a player?
A: Probably being inducted into the
(Greensboro College) hall of fame.
Q: Who influenced your development as a coach?
A: Coach (Sylvia) Hatchell, obviously, at
North Carolina has had an influence.
Q: When did you know that you wanted to be a
coach?
A: Since I was teeny-tiny, it's what I've
always wanted to do.
Q: You studied at Southern Miss (master's
degree in human performance and recreation). What was that
experience like?
A: It was an accelerated graduate school
program. I was there two summers.
Q: What are qualities that you look for in a
recruit?
A: Kids that are passionate, that love to
work hard and who truly buy in to Eastern North Carolina and ECU.
Q: Do you have any hobbies or pastimes?
A: No. Getting this basketball program
turned around for the past few years has been keeping me pretty
busy.
Q: What have been keys to success this season?
A: I think we've just continued to build.
The foundation was just so strong. We lost our three leading scorers
a year ago and I just think the culture we've built has trumped all
strategy.
Q: What are the advantages of the new practice
facility?
A: I think it gives us a 'Wow' factor when
we bring recruits on. I know for sure our recruiting has been
elevated.
Q: What was the biggest adjustment for you,
moving from Francis Marion to East Carolina?
A: Probably the base. I dealt more with
transfer recruiting and at this level you've got to really start
recruiting when they're freshmen in high school. You need an early
jump. That was the largest transition, not having the previous
relationship with the recruits.
Q: What do you think about joining the
American Athletic Conference next year?
A: We're looking forward to it. Women's
basketball is going to be a tough transition. Some of the tops from
Conference USA have moved over and obviously joining what is the
current No. 1 team in the country (Connecticut) is in that league.
Q: What do you think it would be like for
UConn to be playing in Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum?
A: I would hope that we could continue to
grow the fan base to where we give them a great experience.
The
Brian Bailey Show
airs on Pirate Radio
1250 on Mondays at
6:30 p.m. This
week's topic was
East Carolina
baseball with guest
Billy Godwin, ECU's
head baseball coach:
