...is silly.

We are grateful to be in the AAC. We are grateful to be in the AAC with some of the top basketball programs in the country with a tradition of winning and producing great players. But this notion that ECU isn't doing enough to improve its basketball program is silly. Historically, ECU basketball has been, well ummm, bad. We know this. It is not a point up for debate. But an effort has been and is being made to improve our program.

ECU is a football first school. There, I said it. This is reality. This is not going to change. Football will always be the primary passion of most ECU supporters and the primary focus of our Athletic Department.

I think basketball in North Carolina is sort of unique (Indiana is similar). We have UNC, Duke, Wake Forest, NC State, Davidson, NC Charlotte.....ALL basketball first schools. These are all schools it is difficult to compete against for basketball prestige. But our inclusion in the AAC should be a catalyst to help us gain some ground. For goodness sake we have UConn, Cincinnati, Memphis, Temple, SMU, Tulsa, Houston (remember Phi Slamma Jamma), et al in this league.

We hired Jeff Lebo. A UNC product. Name recognition to even casual basketball fans in the area.
We built a basketball practice facility.
We have a very exclusive apparel deal with Adidas.
We did some modest upgrades to our arena.
We are now on an ESPN platform some. THIS IS CRAZY GOOD FOR ECU BASKETBALL!
I have seen more ECU shirts, flags, stickers, etc. in the last few years than I ever have....and I live very far from ECU. The fans are excited about the AAC and it shows. We stick our chests out with our ECU logos. It was not this way in the past.
All of these things have been done in an effort to improve the program. Results may not be there yet but to say we are not trying is foolish.

We need to make a decision on Lebo. OK
We need to improve OOC scheduling. Instead of scheduling NC AT, SC Upstate we should try to schedule Wake, ODU, George Mason, Richmond, Davidson, VCU, etc.) OK
We need a new arena.....no doubt. 20 years ago when it was renovated I don't think we could have known we would be in a league like we are in now. Shortsighted? Perhaps. Realistic at the time? Yes. We should approach Pitt County and the City of Greenville about a joint arena/convention center. We could build it beside the current arena and practice facility. We only need 10,000 seats, but we need all the amenities. I have heard this is an option being explored.

Sorry we're hurting the league RPI. I'm sorry we ruined a couple of seasons by winning some games we shouldn't have. But to constantly be belittled about our program is getting old. We are actually trying. I promise.