AN INSIDE SLANT
FROM THE 2008 BONESVILLE THE MAGAZINE
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Bonesville The Magazine
Teaser
Sunday, August 3, 2008
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By Ron Cherubini |
Course Correction: Repairing
ECU’s Rep with Prep Coaches
In 2004, Coach Harold Robinson was hired to
focus on re-opening doors, healing wounds
By
Ron Cherubini.
©2008 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
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Harold Robinson |
(File photo from
ECU Media Relations) |
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On Sale Now
Bonesville The Magazine |
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It was as bad as it gets for East Carolina
football in 2002. Under suspect leadership between an under-board university
president and a slick-dealing AD, the program found itself in dire
straights in terms of recruiting.
Then-Athletics Director Mike Hamrick’s decision
to ink a contract to play football on Friday night – high school football
Friday night – without consulting the North Carolina High School Athletics
Association (NCHSAA) as he promised he would, was the proverbial kick in the
teeth the program could ill-afford at that time.
In short order, Hamrick so angered the North
Carolina prep coaches that many shut their doors to ECU recruiting. And, to
make matters worse, the only coach who could have succeeded in the wake of
it, Steve Logan, was unceremoniously pushed out the door to give way for
what historically may prove to be among the worst head coaching hires in the
history of college football in John Thompson.
Subsequently, Thompson’s failures on the field
piled up so rapidly that all those who saw it coming could do little but
cringe and hope that bottom would be hit quickly only. Thompson then, in an
effort to deal with the North Carolina recruiting dilemma, opted to bypass
the state altogether and head to Florida to recruit. Nice thinking.
In summary: Hamrick engineered the Friday Night
Fiasco, ran a proven coach out of the program, hired an unfit coach and then
bolted for his promised land in the shadow of the Las Vegas Strip. Thompson
then, rather than trying to reach out to the angry N.C. coaches by
recruiting their players, headed to Florida for recruiting.
In the wake, ECU took a quantum step backwards
as a program.
During that dark time, about the only good thing
that happened was the decision to create a new position called the Director
of High School Relations. Even better than that decision was to lure Harold
Robinson into the role in 2004.
There really was not a better choice for the
role. Robinson, a legendary prep coach in North Carolina, was also an ECU
ballplayer in the early 1970's and understood the nuances of the program.
Moreover, he was highly-respected by his prep coaching peers and he was
critical of ECU’s actions in the Friday Night Fiasco.
Fast forward to 2008. The Pirates once again
signed
a stellar recruiting class. They
once again signed pre-dominantly N.C. players. And the Pirates are as
welcome in N.C. prep coaches’ offices around the state as ever. Robinson
shies away from taking, really, any credit, but what is evident is that
there was a full 180 turnaround and it started with Robinson.
“We really did not have a formal strategy,”
Robinson said of his initial year in the post. “We wanted to make sure that
the high school coaches knew that the door was always open to them at East
Carolina University. Coach Holtz wanted to recruit North Carolina and he put
his energy into the state. We were going to do this right and prove
ourselves again to the high school coaches.
"And, in three years we
have 41 in-state kids in the program and that shows the coaches that Skip is
doing what he said he would.”
Along with that
commitment to ECU’s home base, Robinson says that his job is made much
easier because Holtz and his staff are not only good at recruiting, but love
to do it.
“What this staff does a
great job of is that they enjoy recruiting,” Robinson said. “Some college
programs do not have that. These coaches enjoy the recruiting season, love
going to the prep coaches, participating in summer clinics, all of it. They
really love spending time with the high school coaches and I think the
(prep) coaches have picked up on that. The number of coaches who come to our
practices shows how much better the relationships are now. It really makes
my job a heck of lot easier.
"We have a knack right
now for recruiting. Holtz does a great job selling ECU and we have been able
to bring good players in and are competing well against the ACC schools for
the (top) in-state athletes.”
Perhaps the most
important element Robinson brought to the situation back in 2004 was his
understanding and involvement in the prep coaching circles in North
Carolina. His prep football resume is as elite as it gets, having garnered
regional and state coach-of-the-year honors nine times in his 24-year stint.
His .711 winning percentage (231-94) is superb and he led his clubs to a
pair of NCHSAA state titles, six championship appearances, and seven
conference titles.
Robinson's involvement
and contributions to the NCHSAA administratively are unparalleled and his
dedication and involvement in the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas has no equal,
as he initiated and spearheaded several additions to the popular event
All-Star clash.
In short, among the
state's high school coaches, he has credibility.
“It is a very tight
fraternity,” Robinson said of the N.C. prep coaches. “It cannot help you
much with recruiting, but can certainly hurt you. You can bet they notice if
we are not at clinics or other events. And, there is a trickle down effect
from the older high school coaches to the younger coaches. By process, we
try to always run the recruiting through the high school coach first…
always. The recruiting process can really disrupt the household of a family
and the high school coach can set appointments and assist in calming that
effect. He is a very important, integral part of the whole process.
“Also, if a high school
coach does not recommend his player, we are not going to take the kid… no
matter what the video looks like.”
Often times, in the
recruiting game, coaches bypass the high school coach altogether, but that
is a bad practice, according to Robinson.
“First and foremost, we
take the approach to recruit the players we want,” Robinson said. “We don’t
lead players on and we don’t (over-scholarship). That simply does not happen
here. It is important to us to be fair to everyone involved.”
Primarily, Robinson’s
stated mission is to keep the North Carolina, Virginia and South Carolina
coaches connected to the program. It is also to give motivational, academic
and football guidance, which includes helping coaches understand the myriad
NCAA recruiting rules and even giving rules talks to prep players.
“We move mass mailings,
we encourage our prep coaches to come visit and we make them well aware of
our clinics and junior days,” Robinson said of some of the efforts they
undertake. “And we are seeing results year over year. Our clinics are
getting bigger, our junior days are getting bigger, and we are getting more
coaches from further away.
“A lot of it is simply
because our coaching staff loves to spend time with these coaches," Robinson
said. "Yeah, Coach Holtz and his staff are very busy, but if a high school
coach comes here, we are going to spend time with him. That is how important
they are and how much our coaches really just like seeing them.”
And Robinson says that
those dark days of 2002 and 2003 are long gone.
“Hey, we know all these
coaches… we KNOW them,” Robinson said. “And we want to continue to build
relationships. We want the players to go where they want to go, but we want
to make sure that if they don’t choose East Carolina, it is not because ECU
was not a place that would have been good for them.”
So, how well is ECU
recruiting being received by prep coaches near and far?
Read the 2008 edition of
Bonesville The Magazine to hear what prep coaches from Greenville to
Greensboro to Mississippi to Florida and many points in between are saying
about the Pirates program, their coaches, and ECU.
Send an e-mail message to Ron Cherubini.
Dig into Ron
Cherubini's Bonesville archives.
08/09/2008 02:38:56 AM |