Recapping Hawai'i

We hope everyone had a great Christmas! It's hard to believe that Conference USA play is just around the corner, beginning Jan. 6 at UTEP. In case you missed it, here are some blogs recapping the trip and all the fun things the team had the privelege of doing while in the islands.

Arrival and Day One

Visit to Pearl Harbor

Trip to Volcano National Park

Thanks to the Fulchers!

On the Pirates' recent road trip to Charlotte, the Fulcher family was kind enough to open its home to the team and prepared a great dinner for all! Thanks for the hospitality!

Pirates in the National Rankings

The first set of national rankings came out Monday and the Pirates are near the top of many categories! Ashley Clarke is all the way up to fourth in the nation in steals with 4.0 per game, helped out by her nine-steal performance against No. 23 Maryland. Check it out! ECU is only team in Conference USA that is in the top 10 of any statistic.

Steals Per Game: 9th (14.7)
Turnover Margin: 13th (+8.33)
Scoring Offense: 26th (80.0)
Field Goal Percentage: 35th (.450)
Assists Per Game: 44th (16.5)

Nov. 29 Team Notebook

Here are some team notes to keep you updated through the first six games of the season!

- The Pirates have won 26 of their last 31 home games.

- East Carolina drained a school-record 13 three-point field goals against Massachusetts, just days after hitting a then program-high 12 vs. Virginia Union

- Senior Allison Spivey moved into fourth-place on the ECU career three-point field goal list with four against Massachusetts. She now owns 156 and is just four away from taking over third.

- Junior Ashley Clarke moved into ninth on the program career assists chart, racking up 16 over the week. She now has 272 and is just 10 away from sole possession of eighth-place.

- The Pirates own the top two offensive outputs in the league this season, scoring 102 points against Virginia Union and 97 vs. Massachusetts – both during the past week.

- ECU also boasts the top two single-game assist marks in the league this year with 28 against Massachusetts and 25 against Virginia Union. In the contest with the Minutewomen, the Pirates recorded 28 assists against just nine turnovers for a stellar 3.1 ratio.

- East Carolina converted 36 field goals in the game with Massachusetts, marking the 25th time the team has drained at least 30 field goals since the beginning of the 2006-07 season

- The 61-point margin of victory against Virginia Union is the third-largest in program history and 12th in the Conference USA annals.

- Senior Kim Gay posted career-best marks in free throws made (eight) and attempts (nine) against No. 23 Maryland, tying for the best single-game percentage in C-USA this season (.889). Clarke also grabbed a personal-high nine steals against the Terps.

Also, congratulations to Kim Gay and Ashley Clarke for their selections to the Ninth-Annual Pirate Invitational All-Tournament Team!

Clarke pocketed a career-best nine steals against No. 23 Maryland

Gay hit 8-of-9 free throws vs. No. 23 Maryland, tying for the Conference USA high single-game free throw percentage so far this season.

GAME ON!

My first six months as the head coach at ECU has been more than I could ever imagine. And at last, the moment has finally arrived – LET THE GAMES BEGIN! This week, please grab a friend or two and join us Friday night at 5pm for the game against American.

This voyage has allowed us to embark on a new and exciting challenge. We are implementing an action-packed style of basketball. We know that it takes hard work to do it, so each day, the team shows tremendous focus and commitment to diligent work. We have been more than impressed with their energy and passion for basketball. That is what it will take to play our tempo! We are still in the growing stages; however, these young women are showing incredible progress as not only basketball players, but also as students and members of the community. One thing we emphasize is that we want to get better every day, in everything we do!

We are working hard to show our fans that we are invested in the Greenville community. Every person associated with this program is sold on the vision of continuing the winning tradition and creating a hometown team for our community to support. I have come to learn that there is no better place to be involved with sports than in Greenville, N.C.! You guys are passionate and I LOVE IT! We can hear it, recruits feel it and it drives us! So, be sure to tell a friend, because if you want to see BIG TIME women’s college basketball then Minges Coliseum is the place.

We will constantly compete with an enormous amount of passion, pride, enthusiasm, and undying effort. So join us for this exciting season – as we want to hear everyone in the stands. This is going to be a year full of new energy, faces and attitudes. We want you to join us on our journey. Let us set sail together.

Game on,
Coach Macy

Pirates give their time to help with Leo Jenkins Cancer Center Pink Ribbon Road Race

Check out photos from the Leo Jenkins Cancer Center 5k Road Race. The Pirates were on hand to help out and give back to the community which supports them so greatly!

Coach Macy answers your Facebook questions

Watch the video below to see Coach Macy answer all of your questions submitted through Facebook! Thanks for all of the great questions.

Mealtime With Macy!

Sixteen of the most loyal supporters of the East Carolina women's basketball team got together Tuesday night at China 10 to celebrate the upcoming season. Coach Macy, Coach Hancock, Alana Beroth and Katie Paschal were also on hand to answer any questions and enjoy a family-style meal with the fans. Only 10 days remain until the Pirates hit the court for an exhibition game against Mount Olive!

Catch the Pirates on the Tube!

Your East Carolina women's basketball team is scheduled to make a minimum of two appearances on television this season!

First, the Conference USA showdown at Houston Feb. 13 is scheduled for a national broadcast on ESPN2 at 2:30 p.m. ET. Exactly two weeks later (Feb. 27), Marshall will travel to Greenville for another league battle that will be shown on CBS College Sports.

Should the Pirates advance to the semifinals and championship game of the 2011 Conference USA Tournament in El Paso, Texas, CBS College Sports will be on hand to bring you all of the action.

Additional broadcasts could be scheduled in the near future so tune in this season and see East Carolina set sail towards a Conference USA championship!

2010 Preseason...Get It Done!

Check out the team going at it hard in preparation for the 2010-11 season!

The First 150: Head Coach Heather Macy

Follow the link below as Coach Macy talks about her first 150 days on the job. She also shares her thoughts and visions for the upcoming season. Check it out!

The First 150: Heather Macy

What have the Pirates been up to?

We wanted to take a moment to update the Pirate Nation on what the East Carolina women's basketball team has been doing recently. Enjoy these photos!

Coach Macy greets the crowd at the Winterville Watermelon Festival

Coach Macy holds the newest member of the East Carolina women's basketball family - Angie Sciaretta!

Elaine and Shala enjoy the most recent ECU football home game with Coach Macy. Way to go guys!

Coach Applin gets ready to show off his athleticism in the water!

10 Questions With: Coach Hayes

Here is the second installment of our "10 Questions With" series. Today, Coach Hayes is up!

Getting To Know Coach Hayes

1. What was the last book you read?
Positive Energy
2. If you could compete against any athlete, who would it be?
Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens
3. If you weren't a basketball coach, what would be your fantasy job?
Definitely a police officer
4. What are the attributes you look for in a potential recruit?
Their work ethic, responsiveness to coaches, teammates and referees, and how they deal with frustrating circumstances
5. What is your personal goal for the season?
I want to learn our systems so I can be a valuable contributor
6. ECU is a special and unique place because?
The people in the community support the programs so much
7. What is your favorite basketball memory?
Winning the state title in 2006
8. What advice would you give to incoming freshmen?
Take advantage of today because you can't revisit the past
9. What are your favorite professional sports teams?
The Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens
10. Who are some of your coaching role models?
My high school coach and Coach Donovan when I played at ECU

10 Questions With: Coach Hancock

Check out the first installment in a five-part series that will help you get to know our women's basketball staff. Coach Hancock is up first!

Getting to know Coach Hancock

1. What are your favorite movies?
Pretty Woman, The American President, Hoosiers and Rudy
2. What are your favorite TV shows?
Curb your Enthusiasm, Minute to Win It, Desperate Housewives, Hell's Kitchen, The Biggest Loser
3. The last book you read was?
The Tipping Point (Malcolm Gladwell)
4. Your ideal vacation spot?
I never really go on vacation but if I did, it would have to be Hawai'i or Cherry Grove, S.C.
5. The class that I dreaded in college was?
Physics
6. Who are your coaching role models?Dean Smith, Sylvia Hatchell, Anson Dorrance, Larry Brown
7. What is your personal goal for the season?I want us to make the NCAA Tournament
8. ECU is a special and unique place because?The people are great, Pirate fans make a crazy fun atmosphere and especially because of all the delicious southern comfort food restaurants
9. What is your most memorable basketball moment?
Winning the national title with North Carolina
10. What is your favorite quote?
"The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win!" - Roger Bannister

Register now for the 2010 fall coaching clinic!

The women's basketball staff is excited to host the first annual East Carolina University fall coaching clinic on Saturday, September 18 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The clinic will be hosted in Minges Coliseum on the campus of ECU. This will be a great opporunity to share ideas, observe individual skill development workouts and meet the new staff.

The clinic will include preseason workouts, question and answer sessions with the coaches from the NC High School State Championship game, plus roundtable discussions on a variety of topics to help assist you this season! We are working hard to host a clinic that will fit all of your needs. Come and spend the day with us and walk away energized and ready for another season of basketball at its best!!

For more information, contact us at (252) 737-4591 or visit www.ECUPirates.com

Click Here for a Printable Registration Form

Season Tickets on sale September 7th!!

The 2010-11 East Carolina Women's Basketball season is just around the corner! Last year the team won 23 games, the second-most in a single season in school history, as well as advanced to the second round of the WNIT.

The interest and fan base for the Pirates has continued to increase but the season ticket price will not! East Carolina Women's Basketball is affordable for fans to come out and watch the team battle for a postseason berth.

An average of 1,935 fans, the 76th-highest mark nationally, experienced the fun and excitement at Minges Coliseum as the Pirates have now topped Conference USA in attendance for two years running.

The season is quickly approaching and Coach Macy, the staff and players are looking forward to tip-off. Season tickets go on sale September 7 so be sure not to miss your chance to see a style of play that has produced the nation's best offensive output two of the last three seasons. Help us break a record of season tickets sold and come support your East Carolina Pirates as they set sail back to the NCAA Tournament!

Fans can purchase their season tickets online or by calling the Pirate ticket office at 1-800-DIAL-ECU (1-800-328-2300). Prices are $35 while faculty and staff can obtain theirs for $28.

2010-11 ECU Women's Basketball Staff styles and profiles for the camera!

Check out some of the best staff shots from their photo shoot!

2010 Women's Basketball Staff Photo Shoot

Katie Paschal ponders joining the Pirate Nation

As the first day of summer session arrived, I was so excited and nervous at the same time. Luckily, I was greeted by Coach Macy and the rest of the coaching staff to help me with my transition. They even helped me move in! That put a big smile on my face and it was a great to know how much they care.

I didn’t know exactly what to expect, but I really enjoyed my first summer school session at ECU. It was very stress-free and a good start to my career. I took Theatre and English, and had great professors that made learning easy. Study hall really helped me out with managing my two classes. My advisor, Jamie Quinn, was good about keeping up with our classes. We had to print our grades off every week and give her a copy. It felt good to stay on top of it all! I usually just finished my homework for both classes in study hall.

After going to class and doing my homework, fellow rookie Alana Beroth and I would go to the Murphy Center to work out with our strength coach, Coach Wheel. We would alternate between circuits and weights every day. My body was pretty sore the first week, but after that I got used to it. The strength coaches made us work hard but I feel like I got a lot better over the summer. Also, at night, I loved going to the rec center to work on my basketball skills.

I am so excited to come back and go full steam ahead! I am very glad I attended the summer session because I now feel prepared for the fall after getting a head start. I am ready to move into Pirate Nation full time!

Allison Spivey checks in with the team from the Dominican Republic!

HOLA from the Dominican Republic! I just wanted to drop a note and share some of my wonderful experiences here in the Dominican Republic! This is a special place and the people here are warm and welcoming....just like Greenville! But I certainly miss seeing all of my teammates and coaches every day. I am thinking and praying for each of you and talking a lot about all of you down here in the Dominican.

The people think it's really cool that I play for a university. It has given me time to reflect and makes me think how blessed we are to be able to simply read, write and go to college. That is something we should never take for granted, because not everyone has the opportunity to do that! Also, we are truly fortunate to be able to represent a university with our talents.

For the most part, women down here only work in the house and definitely don´t participate in sports. So, I am grateful to learn more about other cultures and at the same time share my experiences with the people down here. When they saw me play for a little bit they said..WOW you play like a man! Haha, just imagine if they saw the whole team playing together, they would be blown away! I hope one day they may get the opportunity to check out a game - perhaps online!!! Keep working hard and I am looking forward to sharing some pictures and more stories upon my return....Adios!

Con Amor,
Alli

On the Road Again

Greetings from the recruiting trail! For those of you who don’t know, summer recruiting is like no other travel. People often think that being able to travel all over the country is a really neat perk to the coaching profession. Often times it is, but the travel doesn’t always come with the greatest perks. Most often travel occurs very early in the morning and extends late into the night. We watch some great games, some blowout games. There are some good concession stands, some bad ones. Early morning flights combined with late night double overtime games keeps things interesting in this fascinating world we call recruiting. It is amazing what we do in search for the perfect pieces to complete the recruiting puzzle.

Here are the top three components that determine the quality of the trip.

Number 3: Level of talent: If the player you go to see is really good it makes everything else ok. Talent trumps all other factors.

Number 2: Quality of the Game: A close game is always better than a blowout, unless you are trying to catch the last flight out and overtime will make you miss your connection.

And the Number 1 component that determines the quality of the trip is…: Selection at the concession stand (nachos!!). Most of the time coaches are at the gym from 8:00am until 10:00pm at night. A crucial factor in rating the trip is determined by how good the nachos are at the concession stand. Nachos are my favorite!! However, anything homemade ranks high on the scale. BBQ sandwiches instantly garner a 5 Star rating. Sometimes hotdogs are a necessity, chili is a bonus.

So for those of you who think you could be a great recruiter, you first need to start evaluating the snacks. By the way, you should always pack a few in your bag just in case there is no concession stand at all.

Joke for the day: This is a taco and burrito nacho conversation!!!

Looking for future Pirates in Orlando at the Milk House!

Un-thinkable (I’m Ready)

I am ready. There is no other way to describe the feeling about being the head coach at ECU. I am ready.

It has been a great journey getting here. All of my past experiences have prepared me for this. Sure, I may have borrowed some lines from Alicia Keys song, but she hit the nail on the head when she said, “This is exactly how it should feel when it’s meant to be.” And that is how I feel with my relationship with East Carolina University and this community; this is my home and where I am meant to be.

Greenville, ARE YOU READY?

We are seeking treasure In July recruiting!!

It’s hot outside but even hotter on the recruiting trail for the ECU Women’s Basketball staff. The month of July will be filled with intense travel and evaluation of prospective student-athletes for our crew. We will be blazing a trail up and down the east coast in search for the perfect fit of new recruits to blend with the seasoned veterans who won 23 games and advanced to the second round of the WNIT a year ago. We want to do even better than that when the ball goes up in the air in November.

Our suitcases are already packed and ready to go. It is our goal to fill our treasure chest with players who can continue building on the outstanding foundation that has been built at ECU. We are in search for golden players that will take the program to new heights! We want to see our ladies in the WNBA one day!

There is momentum building and an excitement buzzing around the Women’s Basketball program as our ship begins to set sail and dreams go into motion. We have a challenging non-conference schedule to prepare us for the difficult C-USA slate. Come join us on our maiden voyage as we set sail towards the NCAA Tournament!

Welcome to Pirate Country!

It is an honor to be a part of the Pirate Nation and we have the best crew in the country. When I think of pirates, the first thing that comes to mind is a treasure chest. But they do not just get treasure, all Pirates have to work and fight to get it and that is what we are ready to do. Our crew works long days and nights because we all want a treasure chest full of rewards. We know that it will not be handed to us, so we are willing to outwork all the crews around. The vision, planning, and goals start now. It’s a Pirate’s life for us!

The Process of Hiring “The Dream Team”

One thing that I have come to learn is that you cannot win championships without good people! So, you can imagine the time, resources, and research it took to match these amazing pieces together. In any organization, company, or basketball team the people make it successful, so I went to work to assemble this IMPORTANT UNIT.

The start up questions that I asked myself included: #1. Are they driven? 2. Are they winners? 3. Are they coachable? 4. Are they honest? 5. Do they Believe?
When you get a group of people and all answers are YES, then you can go from hitting a home run to a grand slam.

Each year I challenge the staff to out-work the team and one another every day, and I challenge the players to outwork the staff. I believe when you have 2 groups of people trying to outwork one another, great things happen! We promise that we are committed to being the hardest working women’s basketball staff and team around!

As I struggled to fall asleep one night, all I could think of was a puzzle. A puzzle is incomplete until every piece is in the right spot and joined. The pieces have no meaning if they do not fit together. As I finally dozed off, I had the most amazing dream in which Shay, Carol, Ann, and Fred all made an appearance. They fit perfectly together and the pieces connected. That is how our Dream Team was finalized.

The “FASTEST” 14 Days…The FAST Version!

1. Enthusiasm
2. Smiles
3. Introductions
4. Perfect Pitch
5. Late Nights
6. Church Welcomes
7. Energy
8. Search for the “Dream Team”
9. Early Mornings
10. Meet & Greets with the Team
11. Pepsi Time
12. Sell the Vision
13. Purple & Gold BABY!
14. Names, Names, and more Names

The fun began immediately after the press conference! Carol and I were so warmly welcomed by smiling faces and supportive fans. I threw out the first pitch at the baseball game vs. Marshall, a perfect strike, of course. With that, I was motivated to dive in and get to it. I knew instantaneously that Greenville was a home run!

The first item on the agenda was introducing myself to the players! We had some entertaining and enlightening conversations. We actually checked out a baseball game and ate a “home cooked” dinner together. The hilarious part about our dinner was the team games afterward. This is when the teaching moments occurred for the coaching staff. We taught the players all about chemistry! For a more detailed version ask ALLISON (whoever has chemistry with me, SIT DOWN) SPIVEY.

I have to admit, it’s been a busy, fast, and exciting time. BUT, remember FAST is the way we like it. This adventurous ride is just getting started and I’m thrilled to share it with all of Pirate Nation. So stay tuned for the adventures of Heather Macy's Ship…DREAMS IN MOTION!