Pretty soon, East Carolina will have to make a definitive statement about the future of basketball coach Bill Herrion.  I arrived at my verdict during the Pirates' emotionally-draining 70-65 loss to DePaul Saturday.

After almost five full seasons, 20-consecutive Conference USA road losses, and a 0-7 league start this season, there should be plenty of evidence on which to fairly judge.  But despite those misleading facts, ECU truly has only one option if it seeks long-term stability in its basketball program.

A unequivocal contract extension for its passionate coach.

For me, it took little deliberation — four minutes of game clock, to be exact — to arrive at such a conclusion.  Depleted and riding a seven-game losing streak, the Pirates jumped out to a quick 14-5 lead and had the look of an NCAA bubble team fighting for an at-large berth.

"I don't think it really has much to do with are we playing hard or not playing hard," Herrion said after the game.  "I don't think that's the issue.

"I hate to say it, but I think the issue right now a little bit is, over the long haul and over 40 minutes, are we good enough?  And I don't mean that in a derogatory sense.  I just don't think, top to bottom, right now, night in and night out, we have the horses.  A night like (Saturday), we just needed one more body up front."

That is an understatement considering ECU was a few whistles away from putting a team manager on the floor.  Yet that didn't stop Herrion from devising a plan that kept a superior Blue Demons squad fidgety and off balance until the final buzzer.

For the better part of 40 minutes, the Pirates coach was part cheerleader, part magician.  When his team needed an emotional boost, Herrion was there slapping backs and voicing encouragement.  When DePaul found a comfort zone on offense, the Pirates switched to a defensive set not found in Blue Demons coach Dave Leitao's library of tapes.

Arguably no game in Herrion's East Carolina career is more exemplary of his value on the bench.

"It's just extremely frustrating to be knocking on the door a little bit," Herrion said.  "You take (Saturday's) basketball game.  You take UAB.  You take Houston.  I think safely out of our first seven league games, those are three games that were very winnable for us and we just didn't get it done.

"It is such a fine line for us right now.  The margin of error right now is just absolutely microscopic for us.  Derrick Wiley can't be one-for-nine for us and expect to win."

A talent gap which is wider than the Mighty Mississippi that cuts through the heart of C-USA's expansive reaches is roughly the obstacle Herrion still faces on a nightly basis in conference play.

Though ultimately responsible for recruiting at the big-time level — a challenge none of his predecessors faced — Herrion can't be blamed for the talent disadvantages his team encounters.

Specifically up front.

Truth is, Herrion has assembled a stockpile of low post horses in recent years, but a string of misfortune has Gabriel Mikulas, Jason Herring, and Keith Foster in civilian attire these days.  Even among the nation's power programs, wholesale personnel losses can be difficult hurdles to overcome.

To counter, all Herrion did this fall was ink two high-profile frontcourt stars, one of whom — Charles Bronson — is rated among the national Top 75 by at least one recruiting service.

Regardless of the progress in the face of gigantic obstacles, an impatient fraction of fans is growing antsy with the Pirates coach and often uses the accomplishments of Eddie Payne and Joe Dooley as leverage for its position.  Drawing such comparisons is unfair, considering the different ECU climates in which each man coached.

No doubt, both Payne and Dooley oversaw one of the more consistent eras in ECU's hoops history, albeit in a one-bid league in which travel was, for the most part, conveniently up and down the N.C.-Va. segment of I-95 by charter bus. (What a difference chartered flights or a private plane would make for today's layover-weary Pirates, but that's another column for another day.)

In fact, you could make the argument that both Payne and Dooley, while obviously strong in certain aspects of their profession, both were weak in key areas that kept the program from progressing.

Payne was astute at preparation and game management, yet lacked the overall fire and passion to usher the program to a higher level.  Dooley had a tremendous knack for luring borderline blue chippers, but was unable to motivate his teams and thus underachieved.

Those no longer are deficiencies on the Pirates' sideline, and Saturday night was a prime example of that.  All that's missing from the equation is another break or two on the recruiting trail and the avoidance of the kind of breaks that sidelined Mikulas and Herring.

Logic says that both can't elude Herrion much longer.  And neither should the comfort of a solid contract extension — which can be used by Herrion as a powerful recruiting tool in and of itself.

Mike Cook is starting to look comfortable in purple and gold.

When the season began, the freshman combo guard struggled with inconsistency and turnovers, often attacking the basket like a seldom-used fullback who suddenly smelled paydirt.  Now that he has settled into Herrion's system, Cook is developing the reputation as the Pirates' most dependable option with the game on the line.

"Mike is a very good player," forward Erroyl Bing said.  "He's starting to come around and understand college basketball more.

"He's very strong and very, very talented passing the basketball.  He hit some big shots (against DePaul).  He's not afraid to take the big shot.  He's a very competitive person."

Against DePaul, Cook made several clutch plays to keep the Pirates within striking distance.

"It's not really fair to the kid," Herrion said.  "But he's the one kid that we have who has the ability to do that. We don't have enough kids to do it right now at this level.  We can do it in the non-conference, but in this league you need more than maybe one guy."

But having a guy like Cook, who is no stranger to pressure situations, doesn't hurt. 

On a high school team that included blue-chippers Mustafa Shakur (Arizona) and Hakim Warrick (Syracuse), Cook was the go-to guy.  During both his junior and senior seasons, he earned team MVP honors over his more highly-touted teammates.

Throughout his scholastic career, Cook was used primarily on the wing, where he used his versatility and strength to create mismatches for the opposition.  This year he has performed primarily at the point and has become a difficult match-up in one-on-one situations.

"At first it was an adjustment, but now I'm used to it," Cook said.  "I've had some nice games at point guard against Louisville and Cincinnati, so it's all about confidence right now."

And Cook is one freshman who has plenty of it.