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Back in the saddle again
Bonesville.net Staff Report
�2004 Bonesville.net
After more than a year devoted to a variety of interests off the field,
Greenville fixture and longtime East Carolina football coach Steve Logan
decided the stars were properly aligned to take a calculated step back into
the profession.
Logan � whose itinerary since his
controversial dismissal by ECU has been dominated by family, fishing, tennis
and the development of a broadcasting resume � is returning to an active
role in football as quarterbacks and receivers coach of the Berlin Thunder
of NFL Europe.
Contacted by phone Friday in Buies Creek,
Logan characterized his decision to take the job with the Thunder as one
centered on appropriate timing and the opportunity to accept an interesting
challenge involving his area of expertise and passion � offensive football.
Since declining a similar offer a year ago,
Logan's activities have included extensive involvement with his wife, Laura,
and sons Vince and Nate.
When reached by Bonesville.net, Logan noted
that he made the trip to Buies Creek to watch the Campbell-N.C. State
baseball game to follow the progress of his younger son as a member of the
Camels' baseball team. Nate Logan, an outfielder, transferred to Campbell
after spending his freshman season on ECU's nationally-prominent baseball squad.
An Oklahoma native fond of southwestern
prairie wit, Steve Logan recently picked up his octogenarian dad, Jim, from
Tulsa, Okla., to go see the Camels play a season-opening series at a school
in the region, Texas Tech, where Nate Logan doubled in his first at bat.
Steve Logan and Laura also make the frequent
SUV drive down Hwy. 43 and U.S. 70 to the
family's vacation home in Atlantic Beach, where, he has noted in the past,
he devotes time to recreation, relaxation and writing a book.
Logan was 69-58 in 11 years as head coach at
East Carolina from 1992 through 2002. The victory total pushed Logan past
Clarence Stasavich as the winningest coach in the program's history.
That successful tenure � along with
nationally-televised, watershed wins over a number of heavily-favored
powerhouse programs � will almost inevitably result in Logan's eventual
enshrinement in the ECU Athletics Hall of Fame.
Logan served as a Pirate assistant for three seasons, including
responsibilities as offensive coordinator of the 11-1 Peach Bowl champions
of 1991, before becoming head coach. He directed ECU to five bowls as head
coach, including postseason berths in each of the three years prior his
final season.
Within ten months after Logan's abrupt ouster
at the conclusion of that 4-8 2002 season, both of the administrators
involved in his dismissal � former chancellor William Muse and former
athletic director Mike Hamrick � were themselves ushered out the door.
NFL Europe, a developmental league, begins its season in early April. Berlin
hosts the Scottish Claymores in its first game on April 4. Training camp for
NFL Europe teams opens later this month in Tampa, Fla.
The Thunder was 3-7 last season and named Rick
Lantz its head coach on Nov. 6. Lantz selected Logan for his staff after Ken
Margerum left the quarterbacks and receivers post to return to his alma
mater, Stanford, as wide receivers coach.
�Steve brings an awful lot of experience
coaching quarterbacks and receivers,� said Lantz, who finished the 2001
season as interim head coach at Navy. �I always kept up with what he was
doing at East Carolina. He was way ahead of the curve offensively. He really
made defenses work.�
Lantz has been on a number of major college
staffs including Miami, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Virginia and Notre Dame.
He was linebackers coach for the Barcelona Dragons of NFL Europe last
season, a team that has since folded and been replaced by Cologne.
Former ECU running back Leonard Henry of the
Miami Dolphins has been assigned to the Frankfurt Galaxy. Berlin plays at
Frankfurt on May 22. NFL Europe culminates with World Bowl XII on June 12.
Lantz said early season games will be shown on
a new NFL channel. Fox will televise games later in the season, according to
the Berlin coach.
Logan is credited with developing NFL
quarterbacks Jeff Blake and David Garrard and CFL standout Marcus Crandell
during his stint at ECU.
Former Pirates receiver Richard Alston has
been allocated to Berlin by the Cleveland Browns. Alston was a back-up
quarterback to Garrard under Logan at ECU before moving to receiver.
Among the quarterbacks on the Berlin roster is
former LSU star Rohan Davey, the No. 3 quarterback for Super Bowl champion
New England. Lantz said Davey would go into camp as the projected starter
for Berlin.
Marc Dunn, who played at Kansas State, as well
as David Rivers (RYE-vers), who finished his career at Western Carolina in
2000 after transferring from Virginia, are also QBs for Berlin.
Due to a major miscalculation apparently
factored into the unexpected decision by Muse and Hamrick to fire Logan, the
financial fallout is still having a material affect on the ECU athletic
department's budgetary pressures.
Instead of using his significant coaching
portfolio � as anticipated, according to multiple sources, by Muse and Hamrick � to relieve ECU of all or much of its obligation by quickly
grabbing another head coaching job, Logan has instead stayed put in the city
that supplanted Broken Arrow, OK, as the town he calls home, while biding his time and
remaining under contract at ECU for $200,000 annually until Jan. 1, 2006.
Logan continued to be involved with football last
season, albeit off the field. His debut in broadcasting came as a
commentator for a Fox Sports South high school all-star game in Tennessee last summer.
That led to his regular involvement last fall as the color analyst for the Army TV
network, which broadcasts in the Northeast, and as Henry Hinton's co-host on the
popular Midweek Tailgate show, which is carried on
Greenville Cable 7 and a local radio station.
�I think the big decision for Steve was how
much he would get to see his son, Nate, play baseball at Campbell,� said
Hinton, a close friend of Logan�s, regarding Logan's decision to accept the
position with the Thunder.
In Friday's phone exchange with
Bonesville.net, Logan also indicated the job was appealing because NFL
Europe's spring-summer schedule will not conflict with his plans to consider
further pursuit of
broadcasting opportunities as the college football season approaches.
NFL Europe coaches report to league training camp in Tampa, Fla., on Feb. 26.
Each team will have 58 players in training camp � 50 Americans
and eight foreign players. Rosters will later be trimmed to 37 Americans and
eight foreign players with two players added to the taxi squad.
Copyright 2004
Bonesville.net. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02/23/2007 11:29:57 AM
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