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BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, August 25, 2008
By Brian Bailey |
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'Golden' boys mature
and motivated
By
Brian Bailey
©2009 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
Mike Golden, as the
strength and
conditioning coach at
East Carolina, spends
more time with the
Pirate football team
then any other coach.
His is a most unique
perspective. His fiery
personality blended with
his tough work ethic
chisels out the players
that Skip Holtz and his
staff need to win on
Saturday afternoons.
Golden loves game days.
His theory is that
players train and
condition for an entire
month for each game. He
reminds them of that
fact at every
opportunity.
I enjoy interviewing
Golden each August on my
radio show on Pirate
Radio 1250 and 930. He
shared this with our
audience.
“Here’s what really gets
me going on game day,”
said Golden. “To see the
players after they walk
through the Pirate ship,
while standing behind
Coach Holtz. Their arms
are interlocked and
they’re rocking back and
forth. I take time out
to think about all of
the hard work, all of
the morning workouts,
all of the sweat. The
team then runs out
behind Coach Holtz.
That’s really the best.”
Golden, like the rest of
the coaches and players,
was glad to see
preseason camp end on
Monday afternoon. He
says it was a great
camp, but he’ll be glad
when it’s time to lace
it up and play a real
game.
“I really like this
team’s maturity,” said
Golden. “They have
always been a blue
collar group. This group
came in and took a
chance on us, as a new
coaching staff. They
have turned this program
around and have a chance
to do something
special.”
Golden’s boyish smile
and youthful enthusiasm
are great indicators as
to just how much he
loves his position at
East Carolina.
Golden is ready to go,
for sure.
Heat is on at close of
camp
One of the Pirate
players joked after
Monday’s practice that
Coach Holtz must have a
magic button.
He said it was cloudy
and cooler until Coach
pushed the button,
separating the clouds
and allowing the heat
and humidity to bear
down on the Pirates for
the team’s last day of
camp. The sun shone
through all afternoon
until Holtz ended
practice at about 3:30
p.m. That’s when the
clouds returned.
Holtz doesn’t have a
magic button for the
weather. If he did, it
would always be hot at
practice.
“We certainly need the
heat,” said Holtz after
practice. “There’s just
no way to duplicate it.
We had a couple of guys
cramp up a little bit.
Today should help us
continue to condition
ourselves for the
opener.”
If you know Coach Holtz,
you know that he is a
stickler for getting his
team into a set regimen
and keeping them there.
"I'm really ready to get
into our weekly
routines," Holtz added.
"I'm ready to have
everybody go to class,
get adjusted and get
acclimated to our weekly
schedule. On the other
hand, I also wish we had
another week of camp. We
need it just as long as
we can keep the guys
healthy.
"We need to continue to
get better and get that
extra work in with so
many of the young
players who are stepping
up into backup roles for
us."
Holtz and the Pirates
wrapped up the second
scrimmage on Monday
afternoon because
Saturday’s scrimmage was
cut short because of
thunderstorms. The final
scrimmage of the
preseason is set for
this Friday.
That last scrimmage will
solidify the opening
week depth chart. That
should be an interesting
read, with no less then
six running backs vying
for playing time.
“That situation is a lot
different then what we
had last year late in
the season,” said Holtz.
“I think it’s a good
problem to have,
though.”
As far as breaking camp,
wide receiver Alex
Taylor had his own take.
“It’ll be good to get
back in school and only
have a couple of hours
of practice each day,”
Taylor said. “It’s kind
of been like the NFL
around here, nothing but
football. It’s been
good, though.”
Camp ends and the normal
routine begins. The
Pirates will practice
each day this week,
scrimmage on Friday,
take Monday off and then
it will be game week.
The preliminaries are
quickly winding down.
Finally, we’ll have some
football.
BB
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Brian Bailey.
Brian Bailey Archives
08/25/2009 02:49:03 AM |
Replay
Monday night's
Brian Bailey Show with the comments of
Coach Skip Holtz at the close of
preseason camp and an in-studio appearance by
Mike Golden. Eastern North Carolina's longest running sports
radio call-in show airs each Monday night at 7
p.m. on Pirate Radio 1250-AM and 930-AM.