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Insights and Observations
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Henry's Highlights
Thursday, March 3, 2005
By Henry Hinton |
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City abuzz with coaching
gossip
©2005 Bonesville.net
It has been yet another
uneventful end to the basketball season in Greenville (guffaws). No matter
where you come down on the Bill Herrion firing, one thing is for sure: Terry
Holland is letting no grass grow under his feet in his first year at the
helm.
Where will the new AD go
to look for his new coach?
Rumors have persisted for
weeks that former UNC-Chapel Hill coach Matt Doherty has been seen in
Greenville. If you believe the grapevine, there have been far more Matt
sightings in Pitt County than even Elvis could imagine.
I even talked to someone
this week who told me they knew someone who had lunch in town last week with
the former Tar Heel head coach.
If that is true, perhaps
Doherty had come to Greenville to partake of one of our famous barbeque
restaurants.
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He was NOT here to meet
with Terry Holland about the East Carolina job. As we reported on Talk
1070's Talk of the Town on Tuesday (Replay
archive), we have learned that Doherty is not a
candidate for the position.
The other hot name that
will not go away is former Holland disciple Ricky Stokes. No one can really
confirm that Stokes is a candidate but many are using the concept of
association to further this theory.
Stokes played on
Holland’s final four team at Virginia in 1984. He coached under Holland as a
graduate assistant and is currently on the South Carolina staff under Dave
Odom, considered one of Holland’s closest friends.
Just one problem: Holland
has staked himself out that while Bill Herrion has represented the program
excellently, he just has not taken ECU to an acceptable level in the
win-loss column.
If Stokes is the guy when
the smoke clears, partisans will wonder how it made since to fire Herrion
and bring in a coach with a 45-70 record in his four years as a head coach
at Virginia Tech.
The argument that Seth
Greenburg is winning with Stokes’ players at Tech also will not sit well
with those who think Herrion has the table set for the new Pirate coach for
next season in a watered-down Conference USA.
The truth is that there
are probably only two people who know who has the inside track on the ECU
job at this point. They are Holland and Associate AD Nick Floyd.
Remember, there were
innumerous rumors circulating in the fall about who would replace John
Thompson. People thought Holland already had someone in mind when he
obviously did not.
He had never met Skip
Holtz before their initial interview that took place Thanksgiving weekend.
It would stand to reason
that his choice for basketball, however, will be someone with whom Holland
already has some sort of relationship.
Clark-LeClair Stadium on
deck
Reading Woody Peele’s
inaugural Bonesville column a couple
of weeks ago about Harrington Field brought back some memories.
I would also like to
publicly thank Woody for reminding everyone of one of my finer broadcasting
moments — the night I lost my dinner in the old Harrington press box. It was
just my way of saying good-bye to the old place.
Having watched my first
game at Harrington as an ECU freshman in 1971 and subsequently having the
opportunity to enjoy many significant moments there over the years, I can
honestly say there has been a little lump in my throat watching the old
stands come down and this beautiful new facility get built.
There are many things I
will miss about the old place. Honestly, there are many things I will not.
Having suffered through
many afternoons and evenings doing the ECU baseball radio broadcasts from
outside the press box at a table in the stands, I endured everything from
sleet, to temperatures so cold I lost feeling in my feet, to wind so strong
it was hard to keep my scorebook from becoming airborne. There were also hot
days that I got cooked.
And oh yeah. No bathroom.
Try knocking back a few Diet Pepsis and then holding it for nine innings.
Commercial breaks between innings are only one minute long and getting to
the outhouse behind the stadium was not an option.
I think it is only
fitting that I get to do the first broadcast in the beautiful new press box,
so I will. Along with my Talk 1070 sports colleagues we will do a live
morning show from Clark-LeClair Stadium on opening day. We will be live from
the press box from 7-9 a.m. this Friday morning on Talk 1070. It will also
be
streamed live on the net thanks to
Bonesville.net.
In addition to our sports
team, including Patrick Johnson, Geoff Thompson and the ever loud Yankee
Boy, we will have guests including the stadium’s largest benefactor Bill
Clark, Coach Randy Mazey and ECU operations chief J.J. McLamb.
Other invited guests,
still to be confirmed, include Chancellor Steve Ballard and Terry Holland.
As the sportswriter who
logged the most miles in the old wooden press (cracker) box, Woody Peele
also deserves some airtime. So we have invited the retired Daily Reflector
writer and former sports editor to join us as well to reminisce and
celebrate the new facilities.
I have promised Woody not
to lose my breakfast and ruin his morning.
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Henry Hinton.
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02/23/2007 10:16:07 AM |
