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Insights and Observations
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Read Henry Hinton's
feature story on veteran Hollywood actress and ECU alum
Beth Grant in
Bonesville Magazine. |
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Henry's Highlights
Thursday, December 9, 2004
By Henry Hinton |
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Holland busily engaged in
righting the ship
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Bonesville Magazine
WHERE TO BUY... |
• PAT DYE: Short on Tenure, Long on Impact
• INSIDE PIRATE FOOTBALL
• Recruit Profiles
• Rookie Books
• Tracking the Classes
• Florida Pipeline
• NCHSAA & ECU: Smooth Sailing Again
• HIGH HOPES FOR HOOPS
• STEVE BALLARD:
New Leader Takes Charge
• SCOTT COWEN: Busting Down the Door
• KEITH LECLAIR on ECU's Field of Dreams
• BETH GRANT: Actress Still a Pirate
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©2004 Bonesville.net
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CATCH THE LIVE STREAM OF TODAY'S TERRY HOLLAND INTERVIEW |
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live stream of today's
Talk of The Town from 5-6 p.m., featuring
a taped interview Henry Hinton conducted
with Terry Holland:
Audio feed |
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| Replay
Wednesday's
Talk of The Town with Henry Hinton:
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To say that Terry Holland is a man on a mission would
be an understatement. In just a few short months on the job, Holland has
reawakened the synergy of a program that had been heading in the wrong
direction.
It may be a cliché, but Holland is the right guy at the
right time.
New East Carolina head football coach Skip Holtz is
busy at work
putting together his staff and
looking under every high school rock for a recruit or two that might still
be uncommitted.
Meanwhile, Holland is off to other issues, having done
what he thought he had to do to steer back on course a proud Pirate gridiron
program.
The Pirate fanbase is not wallowing in frustration
about a 2-9 season. They are talking about the future with renewed
excitement.
Wednesday afternoon, Holland graced the Talk 1070-Cable
7 studios to tape an interview that will be aired on Talk of the Town this
afternoon (Thursday) in the 5 o’clock hour.
Holland is on a whirlwind schedule this week, having
been in New York on Monday and Tuesday for what he called “conference
meetings around the College Football Hall of Fame banquet.”
When we heard that, we immediately wondered, ‘Which
conference?’
Speculation persists that Holland is discussing a
potential deal with The Big East that would get ECU a ‘football-only’
invitation after the first of the year. But no, it appears that Holland was
in a Conference USA caucus that coincided with the annual banquet in New
York.
Of course, he still had every chance to run into Big
East Commish Mike Tranghese, who was undoubtedly at the same event. Holland
is making no bones about trying to position ECU to be a player in the BCS
one way or another.
How far along are discussions with The Big East? Are
they serious? We posed that question to Holland in the interview.
A word of warning before you partake of the interview:
Holland has already proven to be the consummate politician. While he does
not always give a direct answer, you might get a hint of what his plans are
— if you listen carefully.
If the rumored Big East invitation is forthcoming,
there are many issues with which Holland must concern himself. ECU would
have to respond positively to such an offer, but what about other sports? We
posed that question to him as well.
In preparing for the one on one with Coach Holland, we
tried to think of the questions on every Pirate fan's mind right now.
Here are some of the other topics we discussed in the
interview:
Was it fair to only give John Thompson two years?
What traits were you looking for in hiring a successor
to Thompson?
What are the expectations for Holtz’s first season?
Why is ECU traveling to play teams like Western
Carolina and Gardner-Webb on the road in basketball?
What is the future for ECU athletics? What other things
are in your plans to move the program forward?
And, of course, we had to ask Coach Holland to
reminisce a bit about his coaching days. Going back for years, one question
I have wanted to ask him is why he stopped coaching at such a young age?
Holland was just 48 when he left his head coaching position at Virginia.
I also thought people would like to hear about his
relationship with his friend and college coach Lefty Driesell.
Terry Holland is nothing if not affable. His friendly
demeanor is disarming, but make no mistake — Terry Holland is a giant in the
college athletics industry and he wants to win.
He has always been a winner and he intends to be one
here. There is little question that Holland sees ECU as his last
professional challenge. One gets the feeling that his goals are to move
swiftly to get the job done. His actions in just a few short months
certainly speak to that.
East Carolina is very fortunate to have landed Terry
Holland at this point in its history.
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02/23/2007 10:14:23 AM |
