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Selection Committee Choice:
Overton
By Al Myatt
©2008 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
The baseball acumen and
personal integrity of former East Carolina coach Gary Overton has been
rewarded with his inclusion on the NCAA baseball selection committee.
Overton, who now provides
some color commentary on Pirate baseball broadcasts in addition to his
duties as ECU's assistant athletic director for internal operations,
will begin a four-year term on the committee on Sept. 1.
Overton was initially
picked from a list of nominees in Conference USA and then passed an
intensive review by the NCAA management council.
"First of all, I was
really excited," said Overton, who lettered for the Pirates from 1970 to
1973. "I'm honored to serve the NCAA and I'm even more honored to
represent East Carolina in a role beneficial to all of college
baseball."
Overton has more than
double the wins of any other baseball coach in East Carolina history,
guiding the Pirates to a 427-237-1 record during his tenure from 1985 to
1997. His teams made the NCAA Tournament five times.
Overton is a scholar as
well, earning his doctorate in higher education administration in 2001.
He also serves as a professor and lecturer in ECU's School of Health and
Human Performance.
On Memorial Day weekends,
Overton will convene in Indianapolis with selection committee
representatives from other regions to seed the NCAA Tournament. There
will be conference calls and meetings to keep the representatives
informed prior to the actual seeding process.
"The pool from which I was
chosen included athletic directors, commissioners and influential people
from the realm of college administrators," Overton said. "I was very
honored to have been selected."
Overton won't be involved
in seeding for the 2008 NCAA Tournament but he points out that the
selection committee puts a lot of value on the ratings percentage index,
which had the Pirates rated No. 6 nationally on Friday — much higher
than their current position in the national rankings.
Conference USA is fifth
nationally in the RPI among 31 leagues.
PAGE UPDATED
04/19/08 02:07 AM.
©2008 Bonesville.net. All rights rights reserved.
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