THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 23, 1995 TAG: 9509230396
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
Just over two years ago, George Moody was living the easy life of early retirement, playing golf when he wanted to, going fishing when he felt like it.
Then his phone rang. It was Jimmy R. Jenkins, Elizabeth City State University's chancellor.
The Vikings' athletic department was in total upheaval. Head football coach Alvin Kelley had resigned under pressure, and the entire athletic program was the subject of an internal investigation. Jenkins asked Moody if he wanted to get back into coaching.
``I came to the interview thinking I was up for the offensive coordinator's position,'' recalled Moody, a head coach for 10 years at Virginia State who had just completed a two-year stint as an assistant at Norfolk State. ``I didn't know until I sat down with the chancellor that he wanted me to be interim head coach.''
The position is no longer interim. And the Vikings' football program is no longer in chaos.
Instead, Elizabeth City State is 3-0 and ranked No. 20 in Division II as the Vikings prepare to play Norfolk State (2-1) at 7 p.m. tonight at Foreman Field in Norfolk.
``I didn't think we'd turn it around this fast,'' Moody said. ``I figured it would take three or four years to get it going in the right direction.''
Why should anyone have expected anything more? Practice began a week late in Moody's first season at ECSU, which ended with a 2-8 mark. The Vikings were 5-6 last season.
Offensive tackle Lamont Mabry, however, says the Vikings are right on his projected schedule.
``The class that I came in with really had some talent,'' said Mabry, a redshirt junior. ``We felt when we were freshmen that we had a great bunch. About a handful transferred out. But the majority stayed together.''
And played.
Moody went with a youth movement in his first season.
``I remember that first year, when we went 2-8,'' defensive end Ivan Deloatch said. ``I didn't lose eight games in the four years I was at Tarboro (N.C.) High. A lot of people on this team came from winning programs and never had that kind of losing experience.''
But it was experience nonetheless. And since Moody installed a Wing-T offensive scheme, which employs a lot of sleight-of-hand and misdirection, such experience has proven invaluable this season.
``They got on-the-job training,'' said Moody, who still lives in Portsmouth, choosing to commute the 50 minutes to campus each day. ``Even though those were some hazardous years, they now know the system.''
Playing behind a massive front line - Mabry and bookend tackle Herman Kemp weigh a combined 650 pounds - the Vikings are averaging 271 yards rushing per game. And there isn't a senior in the backfield. Fullback Lamont Avent is a sophomore; quarterback Kenny Crump and running backs Aaron Murchinson and Malcolm Mackey are juniors.
``I'd played in an I-formation and a one-back set before this,'' said Murchinson, whose 30-yard catch-and-run touchdown with seven seconds left sparked a 22-19 victory over Winston-Salem State last Saturday. ``There are a lot of little things that make the Wing-T work, and the secret to it is repetition and getting the timing down.''
The defense is an entirely different story, but not without its own set of peaks and valleys.
Just prior to the opening of practice this season, defensive coordinator Fred Freeman accepted a similar position at Prairie View in Texas. Offensive line coach Stanley Whitehurst was thrust into the defensive coordinator position, and Moody took over the offensive line.
Whitehurst stuck with the basic 3-4 defensive scheme Freeman left behind, injecting his own little twists. The result: ECSU leads the CIAA in team defense, allowing just under 250 yards per game.
``The puzzle just seems to keep coming together under negative situations,'' Moody said.
The Vikings have yet to face a team that passes like the Spartans. But when an 0-3 ECSU squad hosted Norfolk State last year, the Vikings came away with a 27-26 victory. ``It was a big momentum boost for us,'' Mabry said.
And there are hardly any breaks on the remaining schedule.Key games on the difficult slate include road trips to Virginia State (Nov. 21), and Division I-AA schools Hampton (Nov. 28) and Grambling (Nov. 11).
And Moody, 57, will be standing on the sidelines, the thoughts of his fishing trips and golf outings deep in his memory bank.
``I don't ever question what the Big Man Upstairs does,'' he said. ``Sometimes he puts you on the spot to see what you're made of.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Christopher Reddick, Staff
Former NSU assistant George Moody will bring his No. 20 Vikings to
Foreman Field tonight.
by CNB