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Pirate Notebook No. 42
Monday, January 14, 2002

By Denny O'Brien
Staff Writer and Columnist

GREENVILLE — In the span of one week, East Carolina witnessed both ends of the Conference USA coaching spectrum.

First, there was Bob Huggins, whose nationally-ranked Cincinnati Bearcats flirted dangerously with defeat against the Pirates. Grim, sour, and overly pompous, Huggins didn't try to hide his obvious displeasure about East Carolina's presence in C-USA.

Then, there was Charlotte head coach Bobby Lutz, who couldn't say enough about Bill Herrion and his young Pirate basketball team. With passion and energy, Lutz embraced the atmosphere in Minges Coliseum on Saturday, pointing out after the game that not everyone was against ECU joining the family.

"I'm happy they're in the league," Lutz said. "I know some people said other things. I don't like coming here to play, because they are hard to beat, but I like the fact that they are in our league — I think it's a positive thing."

Not only does Lutz think that the Pirates will reap benefits from upgrading leagues, he believes his program will also prosper as a result of ECU's inclusion.

East Carolina provides the Niners a little something extra, an in-state conference rival to be precise, to stir competitive fires and spark some attention.

"I think (the rivalry) is good for both schools," Lutz said. "We are in North Carolina, which is ACC country. This gives us a presence in both the west and the eastern part of the state.

"Obviously, high school kids are going to love the ACC, and they should — it's a great league. I think this is going to make more awareness of Conference USA and our two programs. We're going to end up going head-to-head on a number of recruits."

Much like East Carolina, Charlotte has struggled to gain attention in the shadows of The Old North State's four ACC schools. After all, this is the state where for decades college basketball has known only one avenue — Tobacco Road.

But with an annual home-and-home series between East Carolina and Charlotte now in place, Pirate and 49er fans have a new foe to hate. In due time, that passion could develop into an intense rivalry, which could add to the state's basketball mystique.

"It takes time for rivalries to develop, and overall, that's the problem with Conference USA," Lutz added. "The league is in its seventh year. The ACC, SEC, Big 10, Big East — those people have so many years of tradition. It takes time to develop that, but I think it's a natural."

Lutz's sideline antics on Saturday may have gone a long way towards nurturing a love-hate relationship between the two schools. With his short stature and high-pitched voice, Lutz was an easy target for the boisterous Minges' Maniacs, who mocked almost every exclamation from Charlotte's fourth-year head coach.

In the waning seconds, with the game all but decided, Lutz leaned comfortably against the scorer's table with utter satisfaction. As several purple-and-gold-clad students continued with their best Lutz impressions, the 49ers' coach pointed to the scoreboard in taunting fashion, a subtle reminder of who was on top.

"I enjoy talking to the students," Lutz said. "That's what college basketball is all about."

When Lutz arrived in Charlotte as an assistant, the 49ers were in a situation similar to the one the Pirates now face. For years, Charlotte had competed in the now-defunct Metro Conference, but had just made the jump to the newly-formed C-USA.

The league had an immediate impact on on the 49er program, providing much of what it was lacking in its former league.

"What Conference USA has done for Charlotte is allow us to recruit at a much higher level than we could before," Lutz said. "You could work as hard as you want to in recruiting, but in the past, the Metro was a good league, but it wasn't Conference USA.

"Now, with our city, our campus, and our visibility in the league, it opens doors for guys like Cam Stephens. You can get in on guys that in the past we weren't able to. I'm sure that as hard as coach Herrion's staff works, that that is going to happen for them."

The key, according to Lutz, will be patience. Though he believes the Pirates are competitive right now, and will spring a few upsets this season, building a successful program is a drawn-out process.

"You've got to be patient — it's not going to happen over night," he said. "It takes a couple of years to establish yourself in the league, and in the recruiting base. If I was here, I would be very positive about it."

Despite losing three straight, ECU Director of Athletics Mike Hamrick is very upbeat about the Pirates' basketball future. Though he realizes the road to being consistently competitive could be a long one, Hamrick says the Pirates are making progress more quickly than he had anticipated.

"We're not as far away from competing in this league as I thought we were going to be," Hamrick said. "I thought it would be really difficult to stay in games.

"But the last three games, we've been right there with opportunities to win the game. We're just a player or two away from doing it."

Hamrick said the Pirates are already benefiting from their inclusion in C-USA. Saturday's game was televised nationally on ESPN-Plus, which is the pay-per-view package offered by the Bristol network.

Television appearances are a rare occurrence in the CAA, save for a handful of regional telecasts. C-USA, on the other hand, has a multi-year deal with ESPN, which is the home network for the league's games. That's the primary difference between the two leagues, according to Hamrick.

"Conference USA takes you from a regional program to a national program," Hamrick said. "Now, we're not playing in just North Carolina and Virginia, we're playing all over the country."

The national exposure should pay ever-growing dividends for Herrion and his assistants on the recruiting trails. The staff has already lured in a few gems, with names like Mikulas, Bing, and Badiane leading in the way.

Even though Herrion has found success in polishing those diamonds in the rough, Hamrick knows the Pirates' third-year head coach can now target blue-chippers, those all-everything performers with big-time dreams.

"The young kids have proven that they can play in this league — we've just got to keep adding better players to that, and we will," Hamrick said. "The caliber of player will go up every year. The future of this basketball program is very bright. The sky is the limit. "

Prior to the Cincinnati game, Herrion said Pirate fans had an opportunity to become "equalizers," giving East Carolina a tangible extra lift on its home court when high-profile opponents from one of the nation's better league's come calling.

ECU fans responded in near-capacity fashion against Cincinnati, which was followed by almost 6,500 in attendance against Charlotte.

Against the Bearcats, noise reached new heights. That was no big deal, though, according to Huggins, whose team is self-advertised as everybody's big game.

"The crowd is pretty indicative of every time we play," he said. "We play in hostile environments everywhere — our guys are used to that."

Charlotte's Cam Stephens, who finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds, was a little less smug about the ECU crowd. The junior forward gave credit where credit was due, admitting that Herrion's "equalizers" played a key role in the Pirates' late-game run.

"The crowd was so loud that it was kind of hard for us to hear each other and hear the plays that were being called," he said.

As for Huggins, he took his Bearcat show to Houston on Saturday. As expected, his post-game comments were dominated by his perception of the road crowd.

"This is everybody's Super Bowl (when they play us)," Huggins said. "It's everybody's big game."

The announced crowd in Houston was less than 6,000. That must have been some Super Bowl.