Holland has formed roots as ECU's AD
Former U.Va. coach finds happiness through his work rebuilding Pirates' program
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Feb 24, 2006
GREENVILLE, N.C. At B's Barbecue and Grill, where the lunchtime line stretches out the door, the tall, distinguished man doesn't escape the notice of his fellow patrons.
"Hey, Coach," a woman says.
Terry Holland smiles. Many people no doubt will forever associate him with Charlottesville, Va., and the University of Virginia, but this is his home now, and by all appearances the Clinton native is happy here.
"It's been a lot more work than I anticipated, with obviously a lot more tough decisions that we've had to make," said Holland, 63, who's in his second year as athletic director at East Carolina University.
"But I must say that I've enjoyed it. We feel like we're making progress, measurable progress, and as you know in this business, sometimes it's hard to tell if you're making progress or not."
Before he moved into administration, Holland built a reputation as a superb basketball coach. In Holland's 16 seasons on the U.Va. bench, his teams went 326-173 and advanced nine times to the NCAA tournament and four to the NIT. Under Holland, the Cavaliers won their only ACC title in 1976 and reached the Final Four in '81 and '84.
After stepping down as Virginia's coach in 1990, Holland became athletic director at Davidson, his alma mater. He returned to U.Va. in 1995 as AD. He gave up that position in 2001 to become a special assistant to U.Va. President John Casteen, working mainly to raise money for the John Paul Jones Arena.
In the summer of 2004, Holland left Casteen's staff. Friends and colleagues didn't expect Holland to stay on the sidelines for long.
"He is too much of a talent and has too many good ideas and has too much credibility in the college athletics community to not have a platform on which to make a contribution of some type," said Craig Littlepage, a Holland protégé who succeeded his mentor as athletic director at U.Va.
"The question was, what was that platform going to be?"
East Carolina needed an athletic director. Holland balked. He suggested to ECU officials that he sign on as interim AD, but they wanted a long-term commitment. Holland ultimately agreed to a five-year contract and began work in Greenville on Oct. 1, 2004.
"The hardest thing was just separation from Charlottesville," he said.
Holland's tenure in Greenville has been eventful. He eliminated ECU's long-suffering men's soccer program after the 2005 season, and he's made coaching changes in football, men's basketball and baseball.
In November 2004, football coach John Thompson resigned under pressure after compiling a 3-20 record. Holland replaced him with Skip Holtz, who guided ECU to a 5-6 mark in 2005.
After the 2004-05 season, East Carolina fired basketball coach Bill Herrion, whose brother Tommy knows Holland well. Tommy Herrion was a U.Va. assistant before taking over as the College of Charleston's coach in April 2002. To succeed Bill Herrion, Holland chose one of his former U.Va. players, Ricky Stokes, who was working at South Carolina under yet another Holland protégé, Dave Odom.
The Pirates struggled in Conference USA under Herrion, and that hasn't changed since the departure of Cincinnati, Louisville, DePaul and Marquette to the Big East. ECU doesn't have a rich basketball tradition, and its geographical isolation in Conference USA, whose members include Houston, Rice and Tulsa, hurts recruiting.
East Carolina would prefer to be in an East Coast-based league. But until an invitation arrives from another conference - and nothing appears imminent - Holland will try to schedule as many football and basketball games as possible with regional opponents. The Pirates' football foes in coming seasons will include North Carolina, Navy, West Virginia and U.Va. Virginia visits Greenville for an Oct. 7 clash this fall.
Holland and his wife, Ann, still own a lot in Charlottesville and could return to Virginia one day. For now, though, Holland is focused on the challenges before him at ECU.
"I don't have any real desire to retire," he said. "As much as I love the beach, and going fishing and stuff, there's only so much of that you can take."
