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BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
By Brian Bailey |
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Holland's Mulligan
By
Brian Bailey
©2010 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
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Heather Macy |
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(ECU SID Photo) |
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"Thank you very much.
I'm ecstatic to be
here.”
With those simple words,
Heather Macy voiced more
sincerity than Wes Moore
spoke in an entire press
conference.
Heather Macy was named
the new women’s
basketball coach at East
Carolina when ECU
Director of Athletics
Terry Holland had to
take a mulligan.
In golf that second shot
is usually a good one.
After meeting both
coaches, I think
Holland’s mulligan will
turn out to be a good
one as well.
Wes Moore may be a great
coach. He may be a great
man, but his own
mulligan is close to
career suicide.
Instead of a mulligan,
maybe you could say that
Moore pulled a Bobby
Cremins.
Cremins did the same
type of thing in trying
to leave Georgia Tech
for his alma mater of
South Carolina. After
three days on the job,
Cremins decided it
wasn’t for him, and
bolted back to Atlanta.
Moore wasn’t around that
long. His initial press
conference seemed
innocent enough. He said
all of the right things.
So did Coach Macy.
Apparently the
difference was that Macy
meant what she said.
Holland evidently really
liked Heather Macy after
interviewing her last
week. She was his number
one pick until Wes
Moore’s resume arrived.
Moore’s resume was tough
to match. His eleven
straight conference
championships spoke
volumes.
I think Wes Moore
arrived in Greenville
thinking he was
inheriting a similar
situation that he had in
Chattanooga. I don’t
think he did his
homework.
Women’s basketball is
different in Tennessee.
It’s important at East
Carolina, but the
Volunteer state puts it
on a whole new level.
I know it’s hard to
leave a place where
you’ve invested so much.
I respect Moore for what
he’s done in
Chattanooga. It was
unfair for many, though,
for Moore to take East
Carolina on that two-day
ride.
Former Pirate football
coach Steve Logan used
to say that if a recruit
didn’t want to be a
Pirate, then he simply
didn’t want him.
Wes Moore wanted to
bring his wife closer to
home. But Moore didn’t
want to be a Pirate.
I asked Coach Macy about
being East Carolina’s
second choice.
"I'm excited to be
standing here,” Macy
said. “That's the number
one thing. I'm ready to
be the basketball coach
here. I told the players
in the locker room that
it is like the story of
driving a car and
looking in the rearview
mirror. If you keep
looking in the rearview
mirror, you're always
worried about what's
behind you and you'll
miss what's ahead of
you.
"Right now, we can only
see what's ahead of us."
She didn’t exactly
answer the question, but
her attitude and
enthusiasm got the
message across.
Macy realizes that she
will have to sell
women’s basketball at
East Carolina. She got
to work on that early
on.
She closed out her first
press conference by
telling everyone to come
to the games “and to
bring a friend.”
When former ECU coach
Mike Steele was
introduced at East
Carolina, he was asked
about being the school’s
third choice.
Steele didn’t miss a
beat.
“I was my Momma’s third
child, but she still
loves me just as much,”
he stated.
Holland never got a
signature on a contract
from Wes Moore.
It may go down as an
autograph Holland will
be glad he never got.
Macy the mulligan may go
down as a great shot.
BB
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Brian Bailey.
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05/04/2010 03:01 AM |
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