Denny O'Brien: Robinson key in Holtz recruiting strategy

Pirate Notebook No. 239
Friday, April 29, 2005

By Denny O'Brien

Harold Robinson, right, an East Carolina alum who carved out one of the most successful coaching records in North Carolina high school football history, is leveraging his prep ties these days on behalf of his alma mater as a member of the staff of ECU head coach Skip Holtz. (Photo: ECU SID)

To some who observed the fallout between East Carolina and the North Carolina high schools, Harold Robinson was a target of harsh criticism for the strong actions he took against his alma mater.

To others, the former Williamston coach remained an icon who personified high school football in the state, and was thus justified for temporarily closing his doors to members of the Pirates' staff after ECU reneged on a promise to avoid scheduling games on Friday nights.

Nearly three years removed from one of the most damaging incidents in East Carolina's football history, Robinson finds himself on the other side of the fence. He now works for the Pirates, overseeing a rebuilding process of the strong bridges that once existed between ECU and the state's high school football programs.

Among Robinson's many goals as East Carolina's Director of High School Football Relations is to ensure that the talented prospects east of I-95 stay put.

"We should never lose a kid from the East," Robinson said last week. "That's the way I've always felt, and Coach Holtz and I have talked about that.

"We need to really put a fence around the state of North Carolina. The North Carolina schools lose a lot of good football players who go out of the state."

With many of North Carolina's Division I-A schools focusing heavily on out-of-state recruiting, the door has opened for programs like Tennessee and Georgia to establish solid roots in this state. Although N.C. State and North Carolina haven't totally ignored their homeland, both have made a strong presence in Florida where the recruiting harvest more than triples the Old North State.

Under former head coach John Thompson, East Carolina's strategy was similar, although the Pirates largely ignored recruiting inside the state's boundary lines. Thompson's final Signing Day class produced only three in-state recruits, an astounding number for a school with a tradition built on local talent.

Robinson is all-too aware of that trend and is working hard to reverse it back to the days when ECU was the football beacon of the East.

"We have got to own Eastern North Carolina," Robinson said. "I don't care if it's Tennessee, Georgia Tech, or Florida State. This is Eastern North Carolina, and this is East Carolina University.

"Back in the days with Pat Dye and Sonny Randle, they won with Eastern North Carolina players. They play better when their mammas and daddies can see them play. That's what Coach Dye used to always tell us."

As a former high school coach himself, Robinson knows that one of the keys to earning favor with local players is to first strengthen the strained relationships with the coaches.

In many cases, coaches Down East, especially those whose distinguished careers emulate Robinson's, become father figures whose advise factors heavily when players make their college decisions. If a high school coach trusts a college recruiter, that can help a player narrow the college choice.

That's why Robinson is working extra hard to help ECU again win over the hearts of the high school coaches.

"There are right at 100 schools in the East," Robinson said. "We've got to captivate those (coaches). We've got to bring those guys in and make them feel like we can make their programs better ... and that our doors will always be open.

"We want them to feel like they can come on our campus at any time. We are here to help them."

Even so, Robinson's experience tells him that actions speak louder than words. And from that angle, he feels confident that ECU is well on its way to recapturing its recruiting prowess.

That process, he says, began with the hiring of new Pirates coach Skip Holtz, who replaced Thompson in December. From the beginning, Holtz has stood firm that recruiting North Carolina � especially Down East � was going to be the top priority, a stance that is backed by his first class.

All totaled, ECU inked 14 in-state players this February, more than quadrupling the total of Signing Day in 2004. Robinson attributes the Pirates' quick turnaround to the stable of assistants Holtz assembled, a number of whom were already intimately familiar with the key recruiting pods in North Carolina.

"I think Coach Holtz did a great job of putting together the staff," Robinson said. "He didn't rush into the situation and say, 'I'm going to hire this coach, or I'm going to hire that coach.'

"He took his time and found coaches who could help this program the most and could recruit strategic areas. That's what he did. We have people in the right place."

That includes Donnie Thompson, who has a stronghold on Eastern North Carolina, and Junior Smith, Mr. High School Football in the Cumberland County region. Add to that Holtz and his deep roots in Charlotte, along with Steve Shankweiler, who is well-known in this state and has strong ties to the Virginia Tidewater region, which has been identified by the staff as a recruiting extension of North Carolina.

And don't forget Robinson. If anyone understands the magnitude of this challenge, it is the one man who perhaps was burned most by the problem that initiated it.