Oct. 4, 2010

To the Pirate Nation:

The support the ECU team had on the road at Virginia Tech and North Carolina was unbelievable. I can not tell you what it means to go into a hostile stadium and see all that PURPLE and GOLD. Then to hear the small band of Pirates drown out the noise from tens of thousands of the opposing fans gives the coaches, players and everyone else big old goose bumps. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

No one wanted to bring home a huge win in both games more than our coaches and players. Clearly, this staff and team play to win every game whether we are the favorites or the underdogs in spite of the reality that we will rarely be favored to win. However, we must be able to recover quickly if and when we lose some of those games as we will be gaining important experience that will prepare us for building a nationally-recognized program in the near future.

To build a Top 10 program for the future, we have to be able to keep things in perspective. For example, we lost by 25 points to an archrival on Saturday just like Florida lost to Alabama by 25 points. The difference was that ECU won more than half of the 60 minutes which leaves us a lot to build on ... we simply have to learn how win another 20+ minutes against teams of that caliber.

Florida fell behind 24-0 in the first half and they were not able to "adjust" well enough to win a single quarter during that particular game, so they are back to "square one" in terms of figuring out how to beat that opponent. Hopefully, getting back to "square one" against a particular opponent will not be part of our learning curve but, if it can happen to Florida, then it can happen to anyone.

It was disappointing to give up 28 points in the second half against both Virginia Tech and UNC on the road. However, it helps keep our "perspective" when we realize that Virginia Tech scored 34 in the second half at NC State on Saturday.

The reality in today's game is that negative things will happen and, as always ... it is not what happens to you that determines your fate ... it is how you handle the things happening to you that will ultimately determine future success or failure.

The coaching staff has an excellent group of commitments to go with the young players on this year's team. Everything we do this year will help build the foundation for great future success and each individual in the Pirate Nation is an important member of the TEAM that will get it done.

GO PIRATES!

TH