News Nuggets, 08.21.03
NOTES FROM ECU AND BEYOND...

Previous Day Nuggets...             Next Day Nuggets...

Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Michigan programs oppose schedule shifts to Friday night

MINNEAPOLIS — Michigan and Michigan State don't want to move their football games at Minnesota from Saturday to Friday night because of a possible scheduling conflict in the Metrodome with the Minnesota Twins.

"We're not going to play on a Friday night," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said Tuesday. "That's pretty simple."

Michigan State issued a statement Tuesday saying the school opposes playing on Friday. If the schools refuse to budge, the decision could be turned over to the Big Ten's administrative council. There is precedent for playing Big Ten games on Friday, and that option might be less disruptive than changing the venue.

Gophers athletic director Joe Maturi proposed the date change for the Michigan game on Oct. 11 and the Michigan State game on Oct. 18 after Major League Baseball denied the Gophers' request to play those games in the Metrodome on the same day as potential Twins postseason home games.

"This is a bad problem," Maturi. "We have a football team getting ready for the season and we're answering questions about where we're going to play a Big Ten game. That's not supposed to be what we're talking about."

Carr told reporters he vehemently opposes the move for a number of reasons. He said the Friday game would conflict with high school football and would give his team one less day of preparation. "And more importantly, it would add to the class time our players would miss. So we are not going to play on Friday night, not if I have anything to do with it," he said.

Gophers coach Glen Mason said he respects Carr's opinion and agrees that playing on Friday generally is not preferable. But Mason doesn't see any other viable options. "I'm sympathetic to the high schools, but there is no alternative," he said. "We can play Thursday night, but then Michigan says they don't want to play Thursday night because of academic reasons, which mind-boggles me. They're not going to play basketball on Thursday night?"

Mason promised to protect his team if somebody tries to move the game to Detroit's Ford Field or a venue out of state. "I can deal with playing Thursday night. I can deal with Friday, Sunday, 8 o'clock in the morning or 10 o'clock at night," he said. "But that game without a doubt should be played in the state of Minnesota. Period. End of story."

Clock ticking on ECU starting position battles

GREENVILLE — Only a week and a half before the opening kickoff of its 2003 season, East Carolina is still trying to sort out its starters at some key positions. In addition to high-profile battles for the quarterback and running back positions, five players are competing for the kicking job.

"We've got to make a hard decision on that soon," said ECU head coach John Thompson. "Those guys have really done well, but the best guy's going to win that job."

The Pirates spent more than two hours in the summer sun at the Cliff Moore Practice Facility on Wednesday morning and were scheduled to return for a late afternoon session as part of a two-a-day schedule. Thompson, entering his first season at ECU, had encouraging comments following the morning session.

"I think we're getting better," he said. "I don't think there's any question that each day we're seeing progress. We're working really hard. These guys have put their heads down and they're bringing it.

"You don't get more deep into practice than where we are right now, going two-a-days — it's a 16- 17-hour day for them and it's hard work , but they're responding. I see us executing better on both sides and it goes back and forth and that's good. One drill the offense has a lot of success and the next drill the defense comes back, so I think that's a good thing right now."

Today's agenda will include a non-public situational scrimmage. The session will be conducted in a fashion designed to place the players in a variety of scenarios to sharpen their execution. A byproduct of the scrimmage will be the collection of evaluation data to help coaches decide a number of starting roles.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically from staff, ECU, Conference USA and its member schools, and from Associated Press and other reports. Copyright 2003 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Page Updated: 02/23/2007

©2001-2002-2003-2004-2005-2006-2007-2008-2009-2010-2011-2012-2013 Bonesville.net. All rights reserved.
Articles, logos, graphics, photos, audio files, video files and other content originated on this site are the proprietary property of Bonesville.net.
None of the articles, logos, graphics, photos, audio files, video files or other content originated on this site may be reproduced without written permission.
This site is not affiliated with East Carolina University. View Bonesville.net's Privacy Policy. Advertising contact: 252-349-3280; Editorial contact: [email protected]; 252-444-1905.