doug.doughty@roanoke.com 981-3129

As he looked into ventures for the post-Virginia phase of his career, Terry Holland thought he might be able to assist East Carolina as a consultant.

Holland was still discussing a consultant's position when both parties agreed that what East Carolina really needed was a permanent athletic director.

So much for the consultant's job.

Holland, whose UVa employment ended effective Aug.31, was introduced Tuesday as the Pirates' new athletic director.

"The more we talked, the more apparent it became to me that I have done my best work [with lots of good help] in building and/or rebuilding programs both as a coach and as an AD," Holland, 62, said.

"It also seemed that I function best under challenging circumstances with clear-cut objectives that require full-time attention. I had to agree [as an honest consultant] that they needed to hire a full-time AD as soon as possible."

Holland was the head men's basketball coach at UVa for 16 years (1974-90) and returned as athletic director in 1995. Since 2001, he has been a special assistant to the president.

Holland is from Clinton, N.C., between Raleigh and Greenville, and both his mother and mother-in-law have teaching degrees from ECU. Holland has a summer home in Figure Island, N.C.

"My preference was to live in Charlottesville and take on projects with nothing longer than six months or so," Holland said. "I believe ECU as an academic institution is a well-kept secret because of its location.

"Most people, including me, have been driving down I-95 without realizing what has happened at that school. I was favorably impressed with every aspect of what I saw, with the only hurdle being that we would have to relocate."

Holland said one of his initial challenges involved East Carolina's membership in Conference USA, in which it has no geographic rivals with the departure of UNC Charlotte.

"A casual observer might quote Yogi Berra while evaluating East Carolina as an 'insurmountable opportunity,'" Holland said. "Even though the latest conference realignments have disadvantaged the East Carolina sports programs, everyone seems determined to rise above those setbacks."