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Notes, Quotes and Slants
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Pirate
Notebook No. 249
Tuesday, August 9, 2005
By Denny O'Brien |
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Answers to ECU's problems
lie within
�2005 Bonesville.net
So, what is your theory behind East
Carolina's three-year tumble from gridiron respectability?
If the fans were polled, my guess is the
Bowl Championship Series would be a popular response to that question. Since
the cartel's inception, it can't be denied that ECU has seen its football
luster fade to the point that its name is sometimes used as a punchline in
the national media.
Add Conference USA to the list, too.
Membership in a league that is heavy on the travel budget and light on
natural rivalries certainly hasn't helped the Pirates attract blue-chip
caliber recruits.
Right?
Perhaps. But at some point, the peripherals
over which East Carolina has no control can't be used as the expository
crutch for its recent misfortunes.
"When you look at it, I'm certainly not
going to sit here and have a pity party that we're not in a BCS conference
and say, 'You know what, we can't do it,'" East Carolina coach Skip Holtz
said recently. "Utah did it. Louisville got close. TCU got close."
Darn right they did. And if the same
formula were in place then that is now, Tulane, Marshall, and Miami (Ohio)
also would have punched a ticket to a BCS bowl.
The point being, it can be done. In fact,
it seems as if each year is marked with at least one program from a non-BCS
league that overcomes the same obstacles East Carolina faces to capture the
national spotlight.
Like East Carolina, those schools are
tucked inside regions where they are cornered by BCS programs. As a result,
they face the same recruiting disadvantages, have been exiled to weeknight
television appearances, and fight the same battles with state legislators.
The difference � at least as far as the
online fan communities are concerned � is that Texas Christian and Marshall
spend less time shifting the blame and indulging in conspiracy theories when
they aren't greeted by the red carpet. Instead of congregating among online
friends to ask, 'Why?,' they prefer a more optimistic 'Why not?'
That same mentality once existed at East
Carolina. It's what fostered the enormous chip-on-the-shoulder attitude that
anyone who proclaimed himself a Pirate once proudly embraced.
To some degree that chip has lingered,
though the energy that is fueled by it has not been channeled in
constructive ways in recent years.
Is C-USA the ideal situation for East
Carolina? Not quite.
The perfect scenario for the Pirates no
doubt would include a BCS league lined with programs that border the
Atlantic and against which they have longstanding rivalries. Of the
legitimate possibilities, the Big East most closely fits that criteria.
However, East Carolina can't afford to bet
all its chips on one hand � especially when the cards that have been dealt
do not guarantee a payback.
For the time being, ECU and its
constituency should embrace its current situation and take full advantage of
the opportunities that it presents. Though C-USA commissioner Britton
Banowsky has faced a landslide of criticism over his handling of
realignment, the reconfigured football league he oversees is arguably
stronger now than in years past.
C-USA (for the time being, at least) still
has five bowl tie-ins, one of the largest footprints nationally, contracts
with three national television networks, a new conference championship game,
and a core of programs that would fight for the title in all non-BCS leagues
and perhaps even the Big East.
If that's the worst case scenario for East
Carolina, then its survival as a major Division I-A football program rests
on the commitment of the school's leadership, its donors, its ticket-buying
fans and its coaching staff to meet the challenge. How far ECU advances
depends on how each of those parts contributes to the big picture.
The climb East Carolina faces remains
steep, and the hurdles along the way are aplenty. But you'll have a hard
time convincing me that the test is any greater than it was in 1991.
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02/23/2007 02:00:18 AM |
