Steven Ballard has not officially joined the East Carolina huddle, but already the school's incoming chancellor is barking audibles at the line of scrimmage as he gets set to make a vitally important personnel decision.

We still don't know what the play will be, but all signs point to an administrative flea flicker.

That essentially is the case with the Monday night news release out of ECU that Ballard has decided to keep the search process open for a new athletic director.

The announcement quelled a general uproar that had developed after news reports surfaced that an unlikely candidate not among those recommended by the AD search committee would be hired by Ballard.

In deciding to refocus on the search and evaluation process, Ballard also prompted the ECU Board of Trustees to cancel a hastily called teleconference it had scheduled for Wednesday in connection with the developments.

It's ironic that all this drama came about because of a Hart � Rick Hart, that is, the up-and-coming Oklahoma associate AD who apparently had won Ballard's blessing to step into the office long occupied by the applicant's polished father, Dave Hart, Jr.

When word got around of Ballard's apparent leanings, the younger Hart indirectly and inadvertently became the focus of more controversy in one weekend than sure-footed Dear Ol' Dad experienced in his entire 12-year tenure as an ECU athletics administrator.

That's not a knock on Rick Hart. It's just that the Pirate Nation wasn't ready to embrace the idea of Ballard � who himself is not even on the university payroll yet � brushing aside the fruits of the meticulous work of the search committee in favor of a young gun with no experience as an AD.

By most accounts of those involved in the search, Hart needs at least four more years of seasoning before taking over a Division I program. Though the candidate pool lacked a slugger, the committee felt it had identified three capable individuals in Jeff Barber, Nick Floyd, and Randall Spetman.

This isn't to say that Ballard committed a costly turnover. For all we know, Little Ricky could eventually be the second coming of his proud Papa. After all, it wasn't that long ago that Dave Hart Jr. was a first-time AD.

Even so, the climate in 2004 hardly compares to 1987. Had he been hired, the challenges ahead of this Generation X AD would have been far more imposing than those conquered by his baby boomer pops.

For starters, there is the issue of conference affiliation and the need to find East Carolina a more suitable home. With so much geographic diversity and no direct tie to a BCS bowl, Conference USA should be considered a holding station until a better opportunity arises.

The best bet is the Big East, which likely will expand its football membership to 12. For years, many within ECU circles have felt it was the logical destination, but the Pirates were left behind when the expansion dominoes fell last fall.

The most pressing task for whomever is hired as ECU's next AD is to position the school's athletic enterprise so that it is a no-brainer addition next time around. To do so, an executive with at least a tinge of gray in his hair and a bulging rolodex of contacts in the northeast on his desk needs to be perched in the plush corner office in the Ward Building.

It is imperative that the new AD demand respect by his bearing, inspire confidence in the purple legions and foster an environment that will fuel Pirate Club donations and breed better attendance in all sports, while leaving no stone unturned to secure future dates against Big East opponents with which the Pirates have no current relationship.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

At a higher level, East Carolina must restore its image to the level at which it was perceived in-state and nationally during most of the last ten years. For every Marshall, Miami (Ohio), and Texas Christian, it was the Pirates who pioneered the period of the underdog media darling.

Nowadays, the Pirates have to fight for coverage outside of a 30-mile radius.

Then there is the purple blood that once ran thicker among the constituency than a gallon of Brunswick stew. An internal power struggle that led to the controversial firing of former Pirates coach Steve Logan diffused that once united base into factions.

Though the task of unification typically falls within the jurisdiction of the football coach, ECU's next AD must bear much of that responsibility until the gridiron Pirates return to their customary winning ways.

Not to say that Rick Hart can't be one of the greatest AD's of all time. The truth is, we really don't know.

What we do know is that he is young and unproven, but has a reputation for his strong marketing vision and unbridled enthusiasm. The fact that he dramatically improved Oklahoma's multi-media and licensing revenues harkens back to some of his father's groundbreaking marketing successes at ECU.

To the core, East Carolina is a school fueled almost exclusively by pride. Without it, the Pirate ship would sink faster than the Titanic.

In the end, Ballard may decide the 31-year-old Rick Hart is the one after all. To his advantage, Hart would have his father as a resource, not to mention ties to arguably the nation's top football power in Oklahoma.

It also should be noted that young executives are a growing breed in athletics, especially when you consider the Boston Red Sox are run by sub-30-year-old Theo Epstein.

But the bottom line here is that Hart was without question the least experienced and qualified of the candidates pooled. That's why, for now, Ballard's decision to dive back into the process of gleaning and sifting candidates is a prudent one.