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BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
By Brian Bailey |
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And a Tar Heel shall
lead them...
By
Brian Bailey
©2010 Bonesville.net
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That headline certainly
has a different ring to
it. East Carolina’s
success-starved
basketball program will
present the latest to
try and turn things
around with the
introduction this
afternoon of Jeff Lebo.
Lebo was fired at Auburn
on March 12th. Less then
two weeks later he gets
set to embark on one of
college basketball's
most daunting
challenges.
Some Pirate fans have
been lukewarm at best
about the hire. Many
can’t understand ECU
athletic director Terry
Holland’s attraction to
a “Carolina” guy.
We’ll find out more at
the press conference,
but I would say that
Lebo’s track record, in
building programs at
Tennessee-Chattanooga
and Tennessee Tech, and
his over .500 mark at
Auburn, were the
overwhelming factors in
his favor. Lebo's team’s
averaged over 19 wins
per season before he
arrived at Auburn.
Holland summed up his
perspective in a release
from East Carolina.
“Jeff Lebo has
established a
well-deserved reputation
as a 'program turner,’”
Holland stated. “He has
a proven track record as
a player, as an
assistant coach and as a
head coach.
"When you combine those
attributes with his
desire for his family to
be located in eastern
North Carolina, it gives
me great comfort that we
have the opportunity to
establish something very
special for our
basketball program over
the next few decades
under Jeff's
leadership.”
Lebo is linked to nine
conference championships
as a player, assistant
coach and head coach. He
had two in six years as
a head coach, four as an
assistant coach and
three as a player.
He has been a part of
two Southeastern
Conference championships
at different schools,
three Atlantic Coast
Conference
championships, two Ohio
Valley Conference
championships and two
Southern Conference
titles.
It’s also a chance to
come home for Jeff Lebo,
as his wife Melissa is
from nearby Williamston.
Lebo will certainly have
his work cut out for
him. East Carolina
hasn’t had a winning
season since 1997 under
Joe Dooley. Dooley was
apparently the Pirate’s
first choice, but
negotiations broke down
and now Dooley is
considered a candidate
at several other
openings around the
nation.
Spring football underway
ECU football coach
Ruffin McNeill
emphasized the
fundamentals in his
spring football news
conference Monday
morning.
Then Monday afternoon,
McNeill took to the
practice field for his
25th spring football
season. This time,
though, McNeill was man
in charge.
“I thought about it
riding into work today,”
said McNeill. “This is
my 25th season, but this
one is special.”
McNeill and his staff
ran a very spirited
practice. My first
impression was that the
coaches demanded
perfection. Guys ran and
sprinted from station to
station and should be in
good shape come
September.
McNeill looked lost at
times, though, because
this is the first time
in his career that he
hasn’t been a position
coach. He said in his
press conference that he
thought he would miss
that and it seemed
evident as he paced the
practice field.
“I thought for the first
day, I liked the way we
came out," McNeill said.
"We were very
enthusiastic and I
thought the team moved
around very quickly from
drill to drill. I was
very pleased with the
effort. I believe
everything moves in
sequential order.
"This was day one and we
have 14 more to work,
but we had a good
starting point.”
McNeill continues to
make like the kid in the
candy store. You can
tell that he’s extremely
proud of returning to
his alma mater as the
head football coach.
You better believe
McNeill, who played for
the Pirates in the
'seventies under Pat
Dye, will have a product
that other alums will be
proud of as well.
BB
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03/23/2010 03:49 AM |
