A Message To The Pirate Nation
January 04, 2010 | Football
Jan. 4, 2010
To the Pirate Nation:
Here is a "day after" e-mail from a great Pirate:
Sent: Sunday, January 03, 2010 12:00 PM
To: Holland, Terry
Subject: need a pep talk
still wallowing in self pity...yes theres much to be proud of...blah blah...still this loss hurts SO BAD!
I love the pirates...most of the time...right now not feeling the love...
Warm Regards,
XXXXX (deleted)
Greenville, NC 27858
We all know exactly how this great Pirate feels so I wanted to share the response that I sent to her:
Even though it hurts, as I told our players and coaches, and I would be a lot, lot happier if we had won (mainly for the team and coaches), I could not be one bit prouder of this team and this season. For example, I would not trade either one of Ben's game-winners against North Carolina or Boise State in 2007 for this one. In both of those games, most of the stats were equal so the team making the last play clearly won the game as well as true fans' respect and admiration.
In the game played Saturday, only an uninformed fan would would even try to make the case that Arkansas won the overall battle. All the Arkansas fans and media that I talked to admit we won the stats that count in the long term and that our program is on the move. When forced to choose, I will take respect and admiration over the final score any old day and these Pirates won respect and admiration for ECU, and the Pirate Nation from all true sports fans.
The Arkansas fans deserve a lot of respect as well. They bought over 50,000 tickets for this game and they stayed to cheer their team through the miserable weather conditions, even when it looked like their team would eventually lose the game. I tip my hat to all the Razorback fans I encountered. They were happy to escape Memphis with a win, but most made it clear that they would feel just as good or better about the future of their program if their team had won the stats battles and lost the game as we did.
Winning any one game is never as important as building a program that can win far into the future. Although I'm probably the last person to celebrate moral victories, Saturday night's game brought us respect that we could never have earned by simply getting a break at the end of the game ... and just as importantly, it leaves all of us hungry for more wins down the road rather than spending our energy celebrating a lucky bounce of the ball.
Too many good Pirates might have started to believe the battle has been won by virtue of a single win over a very solid Arkansas team. Now we know we have to get back to work today, but we also know we are making real progress toward developing a program that will be able to someday "kick butt and take names" and that is where our focus and energy should be.
Let's take a day to lick our wounds and then get back to work. The coaching staff is already on the recruiting trail to try to solidify the progress that has been made.
Here is a sampling of the e-mails that I am getting from SEC territory:
I've just finished watching your bowl game with Arkansas. As an Auburn grad, I tuned in to pull for the SEC team, not knowing hardly anything about your team other than Coach Holtz's dad is Lou. I am sorry your team lost because they were the superior team in both preparation and execution, but I had to stop and write to you about Coach Holtz. I've been around sports all my life, but have never seen a coach demonstate better leadership than he did tonight. With the game on the line, he was able to maintain a relaxed demeanor for his players and especially his behavior with his senior kicker. It was so refreshing to watch and I wanted you to know that it is easy to see why he has been successful there - Kids today would definitely relate very well to his demeanor and approach to them.
Because of what I saw tonight with Coach Holtz, you've recruited a fan - I intend to watch your team every chance I get. I wish you all the best in the future!
God Bless
And here is a second one:
I just wanted to say congrats to you on how hard your team fought against Arkansas in the Liberty Bowl. Your guys have nothing to hang their head about. The reason I am writing to you is because of a particular player that stood out to me, his name is Nick Johnson. The reason is my son's name is also Nick Johnson. He passed away this past October on the 24th. He also played linebacker and was #4 on his team. My son was only 12 when he passed away. I know this may sound a little crazy but when they announced Nick's name in the third quarter for causing a fumble, I started paying closer attention to his play. I even started rooting for him and for you guys to win. I am an Auburn fan by heart and was going for the SEC to win but like I said, I felt as if my son was out there playing. If it would be ok with Nick, I would like to follow him as he progresses in his football career if that is what he chooses. It would mean a lot to me.
