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Bailey's
Take on Pirate Sports
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From the Anchor Desk
Thursday, May 20, 2004
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By Brian Bailey
Sports Anchor of WNCT-TV 9 |
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'As The World Turns' in reruns
at ECU
©2004 Bonesville.net
What now?
Wednesday was supposed to be the day. East Carolina would officially
introduce the school’s new athletic director.
The script was apparently all ready to go. Several sources
indicated last week that incoming
Chancellor Steven Ballard had picked Ricky Hart to succeed Mike Hamrick at
ECU.
But something happened on the way to the press conference. The Pirate
nation wasn’t happy with the choice, and began to fire off calls and e-mails
in protest.
There is a certain contingent that just thinks Ricky Hart is too young
and inexperienced for the job. That was one part of the outcry from the ECU
community.
The other part of this protest dealt with the perception that Ballard
decided to go against the wishes of the search committee in choosing Hart.
Word is that Ballard just didn’t get that warm and fuzzy feeling from the
three candidates that the search committee had forwarded on to the
chancellor. Hart evidently did put Ballard in some sort of comfort zone,
even with his young age.
Ballard announced on Monday night that the
process would continue.
Nick Floyd, who has done a great job as the interim AD, withdrew from the
position on Friday night. One has to think he might un-withdraw.
Sources say most of the Board of Trustees like South Carolina’s Jeff
Barber. I wrote about Barber’s candidacy early on, and I still believe he
may very well be the way to go.
Many questions remain:
- Will there be a new candidate that rises to the forefront?
- Is Ballard taking this extra time to drum up support for Ricky Hart
for the job?
- Why wasn’t Ballard happy with the pool of candidates in the first
place?
- What did Ballard see in Hart that the search committee failed to
see?
Stay tuned, because this is a true soap opera.
Call it “The Young and the Restless," the young being Ricky Hart and the
restless being the other candidates and many among the ECU faithful.
One thing is for sure: If Chancellor Ballard ever doubted the passion of
the Pirate Nation, he doesn’t now!
Better than box seats
Former East Carolina star Chad Tracy was a part of history on Tuesday
night in Atlanta.
Playing third base, he had a better view than Ted Turner as pitcher Randy
Johnson fired the 17th perfect game in Major League Baseball history.
Tracy had an RBI in the 2-0 Diamondbacks win over Atlanta.
What a thrill it must have been for Tracy! In fact, what a thrilling
start for his career. Tracy is among the best rookies in the big leagues as
far as the statistics are concerned. He has probably made too many errors to
date, but his bat will keep him in Arizona if the hits keep coming.
Momentous series down South
East Carolina’s baseball team was to leave early on Wednesday morning for
Hattiesburg and the season-ending three-game set with Southern Mississippi.
The Pirates need just one win against the Golden Eagles to nail down the
Conference USA regular season title.
ECU, which is already close to clinching a host spot in a first round
NCAA regional that would be held in Kinston, will then head to Houston for
the C-USA Tournament.
This dream season continues to amaze many. The Pirates are ranked as high
as
No. 4 in the nation and are
determined to finally make that long-planned trip to Omaha and the College
Baseball World Series.
Hopefully, the Pirates will wrap up their first regular season league
title today in the opening game of the Southern Miss series.
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Brian Bailey.
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02/23/2007 01:29:21 AM |
