My impression of Terry
Holland's first cyber sermon to the East Carolina faithful wasn't a
glowing one.
It was the first
installment of his "From the Desk" feature that appears on
ecupirates.com, and it addressed
several issues about the Pirates' football scheduling strategy moving
forward. I quietly questioned the rationale behind publicly revealing
answers to fan questions about the the subject.
It wasn't so much the
content of Holland's message that raised question marks as it was his
admitted awareness of the message board fodder pertaining to the topic.
I was perplexed by the idea of an athletic director acknowledging
Internet threads that were anonymously authored by fans with creative
pseudonyms.
Needless to say, I didn't
view it as a timely 'State of the Program' address intended to help
unify a constituency that was still in repair. But I was wrong.
That much became evident
as Holland followed his inaugural message with additional ones,
addressing everything from proper fan etiquette at football and
basketball contests to his rationale behind eliminating the men's soccer
program. It didn't take long to see that Holland's intention was a level
of transparency sorely missing prior to his arrival, a time when opacity
helped carve a dividing line straight through the heart of the Pirate
faithful.
Then Holland had the
notion to carry his e-genda even further. Regular T-blogs soon evolved
into mass T-mails. And that doesn't include the regular responses to
individual fan e-mails that overflow his Inbox daily.
"Sometimes, by
answering one fan’s questions, I can answer questions that others would
like to know the answer to but just have not had a chance to ask,"
Holland said. "It also helps me to know what concerns our fans. Then
maybe we can do a better job of letting them know we are trying to
accommodate reasonable requests but we can not accommodate every
individual request.
"I usually learn
more from each exchange with a member of the Pirate Nation than they are
likely to learn from me — other than the rationale for how we are
operating."
Novel concept,
Coach. An AD who interacts with the fan base beyond the annual booster
club tour, and does so by sailing into uncharted waters.
These days you're
unlikely to find an AD who readily engages the media, much less embraces
its role. Holland not only has done so from my perspective, he has
revolutionized the departmental message by delivering it directly to
fans.
And in case you
haven't noticed, the Internet traditionally hasn't been accepted by
coaches and athletics administrators. You're more likely to find those
who claim ignorance of its existence as you are those who admittedly
peruse message boards.
(Even though you
won't find a Division I coach or AD in America who isn't at least aware
of what is being said about them on the World Wide Web.)
Instead of ignoring
some of the banter that ranges from rumors to opinions about some of his
decisions, Holland seemingly welcomes it. And he does so by engaging in
the discussion with timely blogs or e-mail responses — the kind that set
the record straight so that there is no mystery behind his agenda.
Makes you wonder why it isn't a more
widespread approach.
"It is very time
consuming and none of us needs another ‘pen pal’ to chat with for casual
conversations but I do learn a lot about our fan base that help me a
great deal," Holland said. "I usually make one attempt to answer even
the most irate e-mails.
"Most
of the time, that leads to constructive dialogue about ECU athletics,
even though we may never totally agree with each other. However, if the
second e-mail indicates that the individual just wants to remain irate,
I don’t respond a second time. There are times when the volume in
response to some specific situation is overwhelming and I never get to
answer each e-mail."
Even so, the fact
that Holland doesn't correlate fan mail with spam mail, regardless of
the tone, speaks volumes about the lengths to which he will go to
maintain a firm pulse on the program. And he'll be the first to insist
that the health of a program is dependent largely on those who support
it.
This certainly is
no task to which any AD has ever been obligated. But considering the
degree to which the Internet has shaped the way we now watch, cover, and
participate in college athletics, anyone in the profession would be wise
to adopt it.
Holland's
accomplishments as a coach and administrator over the years have made
him one of the more recognizable figures in college athletics.
His ability to use
technology to effectively communicate his vision to a school's
constituency is just one of the reasons he should be remembered as a
pioneer.
