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Notes, Quotes and Slants
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Pirate
Notebook No. 251
Friday, August 26, 2005
By Denny O'Brien |
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'Circle of Excellence' an
excellent idea
�2005 Bonesville.net
Terry Holland isn't paid to make decisions
that always appeal to the masses. In the bottom line business of college
athletics, that is the reality in which an athletics director must perform.
Despite the groundswell of support Holland
has received since becoming the East Carolina AD last fall, he certainly
isn't immune to criticism. That apparently was the case when he initiated
the Circle of Excellence Campaign and granted access to the Murphy Center's
Harvey Hall prior to home football games to only that elite group of donors.
At least that was the tone of a recent
message penned by Holland and
published on
ecupirates.com.
In the letter, Holland outlined the reasons
for the new campaign and the importance of rewarding its contributors with
special privileges. Among the necessities he mentioned were several
amenities that are missing from ECU's athletics campus, many of which should
have been addressed during the construction of the Murphy Center.
While Holland didn't explicitly state where
any new facilities should be located, it is clear to me � and has been for
some time � that they should have been factored into the designs of the
Murphy Center.
Is the Murphy Center an improvement over
East Carolina's old strength and conditioning digs? Absolutely. Functionally
and cosmetically, the athletic department received a tremendous boost when
the building was completed prior to the 2002 football campaign.
But in comparison with the programs against
which the Pirates must battle in the recruiting trenches, it doesn't meet
the new standard that has been set by those rivals.
Like East Carolina, both N.C. State and
North Carolina possess their own strength and conditioning palaces that
border an end zone of their football venues. The overwhelming difference is
that the Wolfpack and Tar Heels use their buildings exclusively for
football, as opposed to sharing with other programs on campus.
As such, both constructions were outfitted
with offices for the entire football staff, provisioned with adequate space
to conduct positional meetings, and included recreational areas for players
to bond. In contrast, ECU's Murphy Center devoted a third of its space for
donors to congregate during home football and basketball contests.
Unlike his recruiting rivals, East Carolina
coach Skip Holtz can't parade recruits through an office that is showcased
by a million-dollar view of Bagwell Field. And as far as halftime
adjustments go, it's either make the trek back to the locker room in Ward
Sports Medicine Building (a problem), or set up camp in the Murphy Center
where sufficient meeting and blackboard space is lacking (an even bigger
problem).
Simply stated, the Murphy Center was a nice
upgrade, but it already is outdated from the standpoint of its fundamental
use.
Any building that encloses Dowdy-Ficklen
Stadium should be used for the sole purpose of advancing the football
program. It has and always will be the horse that pulls ECU's athletics
carriage, and therefore should have first dibs to any necessary facilities
upgrades, providing there aren't compellingly urgent needs elsewhere.
It's no secret that the BellSouth Johnny
Unitas Center has been a strategic recruiting tool for Louisville. Prior to
its existence, the U of L rarely out-slugged its regional rivals along the
recruiting trail, a trend that has since changed now that the Cardinals
boast all the bells and whistles of a big-time program.
With East Carolina already facing the
recruiting disadvantage of membership in a league that lacks an automatic
berth to a Bowl Championship Series game, the need to eliminate the
obstacles within its control can no longer be ignored.
That's why the Circle of Excellence is
vital to the future of an institution that prides itself on being the
state's only football school.
East Carolina has always possessed the
spirit and desire needed to propel itself up the Division I-A ladder. What
it has lacked in recent years is someone who could conceptualize the game
plan necessary to build on top of the blueprint that already is in place.
Holland gives ECU the type of leader who
possesses the vision to recognize the hurdles that lie ahead, along with the
ingenuity to design a plan for leaping over them. The Circle of Excellence
is further proof of that.
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02/23/2007 02:00:19 AM |
