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Quote:"We're preparing a detailed news release, which we hope will be out by Tuesday," Ballard said Monday night. "We expect it to be a very positive release on not only the choice of the AD, but also the entire athletic department."

Sources close to the search told the Daily Reflector on Monday that (Terry) Holland had accepted the position. Ballard would not comment directly on whether Holland had taken the job.

Now, the reason I post this here is because it's no secret among your average Pirate fan that this hire is made with the intention of getting East Carolina into the Big East.

The question is: Will it work...? Let's have a "Big East" perspective on this.

I think Holland is a very solid hire.....he was a pretty good AD at virginia....my only problem with it is how much does a bball man by trade know about rebuilding a football program??

-- As for getting into the BE....I honestly think had the BE football schools split from the bball only in 1998 or something like that...ECU would have been the 9th team added over Louisville and UC.....Miami, VT and WVU all played ECU reguarly and I think it would have been a slam dunk....now...I'm not so sure

--- the BE football schools seems determined to a league that makes as much geographic/historical sense as possible....and in that context I would think Memphis ( history with UC and Louisville), UCF ( rival for USF) or the academies ( long history with the eastern schools, good geograpy) make more sense

-- ECU does offer some great fan support...but being located in the shadow of the NC ACC schools is a really big negative....but with that being said...if ECU wins 2 or 3 CUSA championships between now and the end of the decade it may be a differenct story...but right now it makes no sense in adding a football program that is 1-11....and judging from what I saw @ Moutaineer field the other night.....hasn't seemed to have improved a whole lot..... my suggestion to ECU is this...dominate CUSA in football and you have a decent shot....being .500 or below in CUSA and your chances are slim to none


Jackson

Terry Holland is a home run hire for ECU. Congrats to them.

Now, will that make any difference in getting ECU into the BE? I doubt it. The reality is, there are at LEAST two programs that make more sense for BE membership: Memphis (obviously) and UCF. Temple could also be in that mix.

Will Holland get ECU into the BE? Hard to say. If we ever go beyond 10, then ECU is a slam dunk. If we go just to 9, or 10.... ECU is a hard sell compared to Memphis and UCF.

--- the BE football schools seems determined to a league that makes as much geographic/historical sense as possible....and in that context I would think Memphis ( history with UC and Louisville), UCF ( rival for USF) or the academies ( long history with the eastern schools, good geograpy) make more sense

That's a key point right there. One thing the Big East is trying to do that I like that will improve attendance and excitement is that the Big East is trying to build rivalries in football. I remember reading in an article that a Big East source said that one of the most intriguing things about adding Louisville and UC is that it is a built in rivalry. UC vs Louisville can be similar to Pitt and West Virginia. That's why Memphis makes all the sense in the world. Memphis doesn't have a built in rivalry with one team, they have it with TWO teams.


-- ECU does offer some great fan support...but being located in the shadow of the NC ACC schools is a really big negative....

Memphis is in the same situation as ECU, the difference is that Memphis is actually BLOSSOMING from being in SEC territory. You give Memphis BCS affiliation and they build a power in the middle of SEC territory and have built in major rivalries with SEC schools, adding national pub to the Big East.

That's why I don't think hiring Holland will make a difference in an of itself. It's what Holland does AFTER being hired that is key. Right now East Carolina only offers one of the worst football programs in C-USA and one of the worst, though improving, basketball programs in C-USA and a market that, in the Big East's eyes, isn't that intriguing. Memphis gives you a borderline Top 25 football program and a Top 15 or 20 basketball program and built in rivalries in the Big East and a strong market. Central Florida gives you a 25 win NCAA Tournament basketball program and a football program with some tradition, a down year not withstanding, and a football program with a high-profile football coach that is going to get them back on track, and a built-in rivalry in the Big East and a strong market. That is what East Carolina is fighting against.

Memphis is the logical choice for the 9th football school. The problem, obviously, is basketball, and whether the Big East can go to a 17-team basketball league. It's highly doubtful that Memphis would accept a football-only invite.

Therefore, I still think that Navy will be invited, and will accept the football-only invitation to become The Big East's 9th football school. Navy has superlative academics, is located in a big television market within the geographic footprint of the Big East, is respectable, and draws well. There are many bowl games that would love to have Navy.

East Carolina has a great deal of positives as a academic institution and athletics program. If the Big East football schools were to expand to 12 teams and jettison the basketball schools, ECU gets an invitation.

In my mind the pecking order (unless surprises emerge) goes something like this if the Big East adds only one team to balance out the football schedules:
1. Memphis
2. Navy (if Memphis is only offered and declines a football-only membership)
3. U of Central Florida
4. East Carolina

ECU fans....here is a question for you.......many of us think they BE will be forced to expand soon....perphaps even by next summer in order to for us to keep pace with the 12 game schedule...the idea being that finding 5 quality non-conference games will be too difficult for the BE football teams...the trouble with that is we are contractally bound to stay with the bball onlys until the end of the decade thus making the addition of another all sports member impossible

---Do you think ECU would be interested in a football only membership in the BE while the rest of the Pirate sports compete in the A10 untill the split....Memphis fans seemed to think there school would not go for such an idea....Do you think ECU would??... If ECU could live with that for a few yrs....that could change everything


Jackson

Terry Holland is a no BS kick a$$ AD. he ran off the '' old salt" Welch at UVA when he thought he couldn't get it done anymore. TH will run off JT real quick if he can't get 4 wins in 04. TH will put in a major name winning HC who will have talented kids the likes ECU has never seen lining up to play for him. i am talking a "big name" coach to turn thing around quick. TH will have big plans for ECU. coach Holland also understands a lot about tidewater NC, Va, 3+million and how this the largest unifiliated sports market in the USA was blindly left wide open by the ACC. ECU is the closest D1 football program to this vast market. you can bet he will pitch this fact to the BE and SEC key people. ECU will be in the BE or SEC under TH's watch

Jackson1011 Wrote:---Do you think ECU would be interested in a football only membership in the BE while the rest of the Pirate sports compete in the A10 untill the split....Memphis fans seemed to think there school would not go for such an idea....Do you think ECU would??... If ECU could live with that for a few yrs....that could change everything


Jackson

No.

That really all I got.

pirate65 Wrote:Terry Holland is a no BS kick a$$ AD. he ran off the '' old salt" Welch at UVA when he thought he couldn't get it done anymore. TH will run off JT real quick if he can't get 4 wins in 04. TH will put in a major name winning HC who will have talented kids the likes ECU has never seen lining up to play for him. i am talking a "big name" coach to turn thing around quick. TH will have big plans for ECU. coach Holland also understands a lot about tidewater NC, Va, 3+million and how this the largest unifiliated sports market in the USA was blindly left wide open by the ACC. ECU is the closest D1 football program to this vast market. you can bet he will pitch this fact to the BE and SEC key people. ECU will be in the BE or SEC under TH's watch

The SEC is not expanding. I read and I think posted an article from back in May when the SEC had their meetings where they said they had no real interest in expansion and that the rest of the collegiate athletics world like the ACC are trying to emulate them. Getting a new AD is not going to force the SEC to do something they don't want to do.