Quote:However, for ECU to make a legitimate case, if I was Terry Holland, I'd do the following.

1) Expand your football stadium - 49,000 seats won't do in the SEC. Build it to 60,000. Then you've gotta fill it.

My alma mater can't even fill a 43,000 seat stadium in Wake Forest comes to town. How the hell would anyone expect her to fill a 60,000 when she's not playing ACC schools on the regular? Where are the fans going to come from?

Quote:2) New basketball area - You've got to make it around 10,000 seats, new state-of-the-art equipment, and ECU has to make a consistent run of trips to the Big Dance.

Again, ECU only averages about 5,500 fans a year in Williams Arena. Increasing capacity to 10,000 only benefits the crickets.

Quote:3) Baseball success - build on the success of your baseball program. If ECU makes consistent trips to Omaha, or wins a couple of CWS, that will open some eyes here.

Talent will become a problem because the ACC will get the lion's share. ECU will have trouble landing the best pitchers, as evidenced by last season's CWS series with South Carolina.

This whole "Tidewater" argument is Bull----. If the Tidewater-area was a draw, folks in that area would be falling all over themselves to drive to Greenville to see a game. Only time fans from the Tidewater area come to see a game in Greenville is when VT or William & Mary is the opponent.

ECU isn't scarin' anyone in any sport. When was the last time she beat an ACC school? Wake's won the last 4, and will win next year. Duke will beat ECU in Greenville next season because ECU won't be able to field an O-line capable of slowing down Duke's defensive front.

Folks around here realize ECUs a D1-AA program sadly imitating a D1-A outfit.

---

Folks like to point out that SEC schools are in small market cities, but fail to see that when you're Florida or Georgia or Tennessee, the entire STATE is the market area.

When you're a directional school like ECU, your market area is the city you're in and maybe the surrounding counties. To compare:

Florida's market is the entire state of Florida.
Georgia's market is the entire state of Georgia
Tennessee's market is the entire state of Tennessee.
ECU's market is Greenville (NC), New Bern (NC), Washington (NC) and points in between.