East Carolina's McCarthy: "Expect great attitude, expect great effort"

Pirates' Acting Head Coach possesses impressive head coaching record

CUSA Fans.com ECU Correspondent Thomas "Bubba" Rosenbaum brings us a East Carolina basktball update.

After an official press release on Monday, East Carolina Director of Athletics Terry Holland introduced Acting head coach Mack McCarthy to the media at a press conference on Thursday afternoon inside the club level of Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

Prior to introducing the Pirates' new head man, Holland addressed the change and stated what had transpired in the days and months leading up to this decision. He stated that he had met with the staff's members—individually and collectively—on numerous occasions since the conclusion of the season and that there had been many heart to heart sessions where they were very frank with each other.

The change was similar to the dismissal of Stokes' predecessor Bill Herrion in that Holland insisted the change was necessary due to the "pressures" and "game-by-game referendums" that Coach Stokes would have been subjected to if he had returned as coach. However, he also insisted that the decision was, in fact, Coach Stokes and that he would remain very involved in the program's future via his new position of Associate Athletic Director of Basketball. This administrative position will supposedly permit him an opportunity to be involved in the men's and women's basketball programs, as well as the volleyball program, by overseeing their day to day operations while also being involved in areas such as promotion and fundraising. If one of these programs possesses a need, he will identify it and work in accordance with the administration to cure the issue. Holland gave the example of raising the funds to build a new auxiliary gym for the three programs to use. He also said that Stokes' coaching contract would rollover to his new position. The former Pirate coach stated that he is excited about his new opportunity and that it will afford him the chance to still be active in the program's development while permitting him to spend more time with his family.

When introducing McCarthy, Holland clearly stated that the new coach's job is to focus on "winning games" and went on to say that he didn't know if East Carolina "could find anybody who has a better track record than he has in doing that". The Pirates' AD referenced Coach McCarthy's career win total and winning percentage being in the top 50 nationally prior to the 2006-2007 campaign, as the 16-year veteran head coach possesses a 309-177 (.636) career mark.

When asked about McCarthy's future with the program, Holland bluntly stated that the program's state would be assessed at the conclusion of the 2007-2008 season and that Coach McCarthy would be rewarded with a long-term contract if the program was "progressing in the right direction" and if it wasn't that a search for a new coach would take place.

McCarthy opened by saying that he is "both pleased and appreciative of the opportunity to be the head basketball coach at East Carolina". While addressing the media, he spoke of the administration's commitment to fielding a "really good" program while also elaborating on why the program's infrastructure is stronger now than it was when he arrived two seasons ago.

Upon finding out on Sunday that he would assume the role of Acting Head Coach, McCarthy said he was excited. However, after talking with the players and their families, he became "ecstatic". He promised that his staff will give the Pirate players the support and patience they need and urged the fans to do the same.

"Judge our program on how we progress over the season. If we are not playing better basketball in January or February, we are not doing our job," McCarthy said.

Following the press conference, McCarthy was interviewed on Pirate Radio 1250 and 930AM in Greenville during the station's "Live at Five" program. During that hour, he addressed various aspects of the East Carolina basketball program and a partial transcript of those comments is found below. The press conference audio as well as the "Live at Five" interview can be found at www.pirateradio1250.com .

Coach McCarthy's comments on "Live at Five:"

• On how his coaching style compares to Coach Stokes…
  "I'm sure they're going to see a lot of differences, but the main difference they're going to see is this is just a better team. This is a deeper team. This would have been a better team if Coach Stokes would have chosen to stay as the head coach."

"I think probably the obvious difference from folks that will watch the games is that I will be a lot more intense. You know, that's not always a good thing. Different teams you have to react differently to."

• On the depth of the 2007-2008 Pirates…
  "The five freshman all have people in front of them that have played Division I basketball. Chad Wynn has John Fields. DaQuan Joyner has Gabe Blair. Jamar Abrams has Sam Hinnant. Jontae Sherrod has Cory Farmer and Brandon Evans. Brock Young, the point guard out of Raleigh who is so talented has Darrell Jenkins. They all have people to learn from and even more important than that they have people to compete against. Last year, sometimes Darrell Jenkins would not go against anybody, but maybe a walk-on for weeks at a time. You don't get better like that. These guys have a real chance to improve as the course of the season goes on just from the fact that we have multiple classes now and we do have a little more depth."

"I cannot emphasize enough that in practice last year we did a lot of good things, but we could not simulate the competition that we were going to face. This year we will be able to."

"I think that in itself is a major upgrade."

• More on his coaching style…
  "I have had teams I didn't even talk to and that I didn't have to raise my voice to."

"I think you have to adapt. I think each team requires something different. Last year's team, we couldn't be real hard on those guys because they were so young. The game was hard enough. The competition was hard enough. They didn't need someone else piling on them."

"This year's team is going to be a little bit more of a veteran team. The five freshman have time to come along at their own speed. We can be more demanding and hold these guys more accountable than we did last year."

"I think the philosophy is the same (as the last time I was head coach). You've got to have a base philosophy and you've got to play off that."

• On what to expect out of a Mack McCarthy coached team…
  "Expect great attitude. Expect great effort."

"My goal is to get them to play together and to get them to play really hard. We can make real progress after that."

• On the "process," his players believing in him, and success breeding success…..
  "I truly believe, even when I had really good teams, I never really worried about the wins and losses. I want to instill confidence in them that we're going to win. I want them to believe that if the game is close in the end that I will help them win the game."

"My first team at Chattanooga we were down 23-4 at Mississippi State and came back to win 46-42. Well, it didn't matter what situation we were in for the rest of the year, they believed that we were going to win. And because I pulled the right triggers or made the right substitutions or whatever, they believe from that moment on that we had a chance to win every single game no matter what the opponent or where the game was or what the score was."

"We have to have some success in order to build on that success. If you have money, you can make more money. If we have success, we can have more success."

• On whether the "Acting" in his title could be confused as a "maybe" contract…
  "I didn't see it like that. There is no maybe. If we're successful, I'll be here. There is no maybe about that. I think that is pretty clear. If we do what we're supposed to do, if we improve in January and we improve in February, then we'll be here for the future."

• On whether he would "feel the pressure" of the job the way Coach Stokes had…
  "I don't think so. I don't know if it is because I have been a head coach longer or that I've won more games. I don't know why that is, but I don't really feel the pressure. The pressure that I put on myself is much more than the fans, administration or anybody can put on me. They can't put more on me than I put on myself. I don't think I feel that pressure. And of course, again, maybe it is because I've had an awful lot of success when I was a head coach."

• On filling the vacancy on his coaching staff…
  "Someone else will join the staff. I am actively receiving information from people. There has been a heckuva lot of interest. I think I've had like 55 people apply for the job. It's former head coaches, guys trying to break into the business, people out of the business, people that were fired, people that I've worked with in the past, it's a whole variety of folks. There are some really quality people that we can add to our staff."

"I don't want this to linger very long. We start school in a week or so."

• On his expectations of the East Carolina basketball program…
  "I think the first thing we have to do is be competitive in Conference USA. We don't need to have home games where people are blowing us out. Now, that doesn't mean that that won't happen on occasion. Again, I made reference at the press conference to not having the referendum on a game by game basis because you're going to have nights where you don't perform well. We've got to give this team a chance to grow. Please measure them on whether they're getting better or not, but not every single night."

"At the end of the year, did the team improve? How much did they improve? Did the individuals on the team improve?"

"We've got to be competitive in the league. That's a step. We've got to get in the top half of the league where we're contending with the better teams in the league. That's a step. We've gotta contend for postseason play—either the NIT or the NCAA. We've gotta be talked about on the bubble and then we have to get to the stage where we are a real contender to be in the tournament because the tournament is what people play for in college basketball. March Madness is something that once you've been a part of it you don't ever wanna let it go. And that is a reasonable goal for East Carolina University."

On his past coaching experiences and how they compared to the current challenge he faces in building the program at East Carolina…

"Chattanooga was already winning.  They had won four out of seven titles.  They did lose four starters the year I got there and they weren't expected to be as good, and we did win the title, but they had been winning and expected to win."

"VCU was not in good shape.  They had kinda fallen off a little bit.  We didn't really have a player in the program that could start for anybody else in the league, the Colonial at that time, ECU included.  So, it was a little bit like this, but VCU had had tremendous tradition.  They had won a lot."

"The closest I have been to this situation was as an assistant at Auburn.  They had never won anything.  They had never been to the NCAA.  They had never won an SEC title.  They had never had any success in basketball really at all.  It took us four years.  I think we broke even in the fourth year and had a winning season in the fifth year.  This is more similar to what went on at Auburn than anything else."

• On the Pirate program's involvement in the community…
  "We're going to have our kids in the community.  We're going to do everything we can.  We're going to do the community service projects.  We're going to be active on campus.  We're going to do everything we can to make this a successful basketball program and not just a successful basketball team."

• On his recruiting philosophy…
  "The thing you have to do in recruiting is overcome the pecking order. There is a pecking order out there. There's Duke. There's Carolina. It just goes right on down. There is an absolute pecking order. The thing you have to do to overcome is that you have to bump up and beat somebody you're not supposed to. You may not beat them the very first year. You may not jump up and beat NC State on this kid the first year. Maybe you beat VCU on this kid. Now, you jump up and beat whoever on this kid. You kinda take a step at a time and pretty soon you've moved up the pecking order yourself.

On the 2007-2008 incoming freshman…

• On Brock Young…
  "At the end of the season, he may have been the best point guard in the state (NC)."
• On Jamar Abrams…
  "Jamar Abrams did not have a ton of scholarship offers, but (George) Mason, Virginia, Virginia Tech looked at him. Mason offered him early. He had some people on him and then he went on to have a great year, but he signed with us early.
• On Daquan Joyner…
  "Everybody had questions about this and that. We jumped on him early and he ended up having a good year."
• On Jontae Sherrod…
  "The kid from Tarboro is just a steal. I can't wait for you to see him. He is 6'3, 6'3 1/2, athletic as all get out, and nobody knows about him because he plays at Tarboro because it is a smaller and that kinda thing."
• On redshirt freshman center Chad Wynn…
  "He came in and we bit the bullet. That is one thing we will certainly owe Coach Stokes for cause we took that kid and sat him out. He certainly could have helped us last year. At times, we wondered what and the heck we were doing. He has had a good year. He is a whole lot better. He is a guy if he was coming out of high school right now, we probably wouldn't be able to get him.
• On Brock Young's response to the coaching change…
  "I don't care if Duke calls. ECU is where I'm going."

Coach McCarthy's message to the Pirate Nation…
"I'm not really sure.  I know they have been promised this and promised that or atleast the expectations have been such that they have gotten excited and then letdown.  I don't know what to tell them other than the fact that this is a good group of kids.  I think they're going to see a good product on the floor.  I think they'll be proud of their effort."

"I think this team will deserve their support."

"Last year, we had 6,000 people for the last game of the year when we were sitting there 0-15 (actually 0-13).  That spoke volumes to me about Pirate fans."

On the 2007-2008 schedule…
"We certainly have beautiful schedule.  I think we have 19 home games, including Winthrop who has been a hot team lately, two ACC teams in Clemson and NC State, UNC-Wilmington who is a big rival, Coastal Carolina with Cliff Ellis, North Carolina Central a local team that is going Division 1, Richmond and Liberty two teams that beat us last year, North Carolina Wesleyan from up the road in Rocky Mount, I think it is a very attractive schedule."

*Note: The Pirates will also play at South Floridaand at William & Mary while facing Wake Forest in Greensboro. Winthrop as well as NAIA opponent Lee University will also travel to Williams Arena-Minges Coliseum. ECU will also play George Mason in the BB&T Classic in Washington DC. The schedule should be released within the next few weeks, as the conference slate is in the process of being finalized.