ECU Athletics Director search committee named

East Carolina University Chancellor Steve Ballard has named a 14-member search committee to recommend candidates to be considered for appointment as the next director of athletics.

Ballard will chair the committee, which is comprised of Board of Trustee members, university administrators, athletics department staff and others connected to the university.

The new athletics director will oversee a program with more than 400 student athletes competing in 19 varsity sports, nine men’s and 10 women’s teams. He or she will inherit a program on the move – ECU will begin as a football member of the Big East Conference starting in the 2014 season.

The new A.D. will replace Terry Holland, who will transition into an athletics director emeritus role upon selection of his successor. The plans for Holland to move into this new role were announced in December.

Members of the search committee are as follows:

Robert Brinkley, Board of Trustees member, is a partner with the McGuireWoods law firm in Charlotte. A director of the ECU Foundation and former member of the Board of Visitors, Brinkley served on the steering committee for the ECU Baseball Stadium Campaign. He was also a four-year letter winner in baseball at ECU.

Edwin Clark, Board of Trustees member, is executive vice president of WilcoHess, which operates convenience stores and travel plazas throughout the southeastern United States. He is a member of the executive board of the ECU Educational Foundation.

Jimmy Creech is owner of Industrial & Construction Enterprises. He serves as executive president of the ECU Educational Foundation, also known as the Pirate Club, and led the $15 million fundraising campaign to build the new basketball and volleyball practice facility. During his years at ECU, he played on the Pirate football team. He is also on the board of the ECU Foundation.

Carl Davis is a former member of the ECU Foundation and the ECU Board of Visitors, which he chaired. He is also the former chairman of the East Carolina Alumni Association. Davis is eastern regional sales manager with Electronics Research. 

David Dosser is the faculty athletic representative for the university and also is a professor in the Marriage and Family Therapy program. As faculty athletic representative, he serves as a link between academics and athletics and works to maintain academic integrity, rules compliance and the welfare of student-athletes.

Billy Godwin is head baseball coach at ECU, a position he’s held since October 2005. Godwin has guided the Pirates to a 253-162-1 (.609) seven-year record. He has led the Pirates to five NCAA Regional appearances and in 2009 they advanced to their first Super Regional since 2004.

Henry Hinton, vice chair of the board of the ECU Foundation, is president and general manager of Inner Banks Media in Greenville, which owns and operates four FM stations in eastern North Carolina. He is the former chairman of the Greenville-Pitt Chamber of Commerce and former president of the N.C. Association of Broadcasters. 

Bob Lucas, chair of the ECU Board of Trustees, is founding and senior partner of Lucas, Denning & Ellerbe, P.A., a law firm in Selma. He also served on the Board of Trustees as Student Government Association president 1974-75.

Bobby Owens, Board of Trustees member, is a restaurateur from Manteo. He served on the Dare County Board of Commissioners for 21 years and is a current or former member of a number of local and state boards and commissions.

Matthew Paske, SGA President, is a senior pursuing a second degree in psychology after completing his nursing degree in December. A native of Raleigh, he is active on campus in the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society and the East Carolina Association of Nursing Students.

Marilyn Sheerer has served as provost and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs of ECU since October 2008. She previously served as dean of the College of Education.

Danny Scott, Board of Trustees member, is partner/vice president for business operations for All-N-Food, Inc. and lives in Swansea, Ill. He is a former executive with Anheuser-Busch Companies and with Monsanto.

Rosie Thompson is associate athletics director and senior woman administrator at ECU. A standout basketball player during her years at ECU, Thompson is a member of the ECU Athletics Hall of Fame and was honored as one of the “100 Incredible ECU Women” by the Women’s Roundtable.

Lee Workman, a member of the East Carolina staff since 1984, currently is the department’s associate athletics director for administration. He has served in various external and internal leadership roles during his tenure that have contributed to the growth, success and visibility of ECU athletics, and nationally, was recently named one of 17 IA Athletics Directors’ Association Fellows.  

The committee will hold its first meeting at 2:30 p.m. Jan. 23 in Mendenhall Student Center, Room 221.