Keith LeClair Wins C-USA SAAC Coaches Choice Award
July 18, 2002 | Baseball
The SAAC Coaches Choice Award is based on several criteria, including: 1) interaction and participation with athletic and campus community, 2) commitment to academics, 3) athletic achievements and improvements and 4) motivation, innovation and creativity. Each school's SAAC representative nominates one coach from their institution for this award and all 15 SAAC representatives vote to determine the winner.
LeClair constantly stressed the importance of academics to his teams, arranging monthly meetings with players to discuss grade reports and the value of attending class, as well as working with academic counselors to help increase their knowledge. Several ECU players were named to the Commissioner's Honor Roll, including junior pitcher Sam Narron, who was honored this spring as a Verizon Academic-All-American as well as Conference USA's scholar athlete for baseball.
A highly successful coach at East Carolina and Western Carolina, LeClair stepped down after five seasons as the Pirates head coach on June 19, citing health reasons. During the summer of 2001, the 35-year old LeClair was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or as it is commonly referred to as, "Lou Gehrig's Disease."
With his health deteriorating, LeClair was unable to coach his team from the dugout most of this past season. However, he did continue to attend games, sitting in a specially-designed van that contained a ventilator to aid in his breathing. Virtually unable to speak any longer, he uses an alphabet board to communicate with others.
"His passion and love for the game of baseball and for East Carolina University motivated us to the best that we could be and to never give up, " said Pirate junior pitcher Neal Sears. "His faith and determination is what kept us going."
In 1992, LeClair became Western Carolina?s head coach at the age of 25. In his first season, he led Western Carolina to the Southern Conference regular season and tournament championships. The team, which finished with a No. 17 national ranking, advanced to the NCAA Tournament and came within one game of making the College World Series field, falling to Florida State in the championship game of the South Regional. His 1994 team posted a school-record 45 wins and earned the program's first-ever at-large bid to the NCAA postseason. In his six seasons at Western Carolina, he posted a record of 229-135-2, led WCU to four NCAA Tournament berths, and was SoCon Coach of the Year in 1992, 1994, and 1997.
LeClair continued that success after arriving at East Carolina in 1997. The second-winningest coach in ECU history, his teams won 43 or more games in each of the last four seasons, advancing to NCAA Tournament play each time, and have been ranked in the national Top 25 polls each of the last three seasons. His 2002 ECU squad won the Conference USA Tournament title in its first season in the league. He has earned Colonial Athletic Association Coach-of-the-Year and ABCA East Region Coach of the Year honors twice. As a player, assistant coach, and head coach, LeClair has been a part of 13 NCAA Tournament teams and has won conference Coach of the Year honors five times.
LeClair, who has been integral in the push for the building of a new, state-of-the-art baseball stadium on the ECU campus, remains with the ECU athletics department as a special assistant to Director of Athletics Mike Hamrick.
