DATE: Friday, June 20, 1997                 TAG: 9706200725

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY JEFF ZEIGLER, CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:   71 lines

ATHLETIC DIRECTOR MCLEAN GARNERS HONOR FOR SELF AND FOR ECSU

When Ed McLean came to Elizabeth City State University as athletic director four years ago, his first challenge was to build respectability for the university's sports program.

Apparently, he's cleared that hurdle.

McLean was recently chosen Athletic Director of the Year in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The award is presented to the athletic director who has contributed most to his institution and to the conference.

``I am fortunate that my peers thought so much of me,'' McLean said from his hotel room in Las Vegas where he's attending a national athletic directors' conference. ``The program I'm in charge of is doing well. It's not where I want it to be, but we're moving in the right direction. ECSU received a lot of respect this past year when we hit the court or the field. That is the goal of any AD.''

ECSU's men's basketball team carried much of the load. The team finished 24-6, was ranked third in the nation and reached the quarterfinals of the Division II playoffs.

McLean, 47, hired head coach Barry Hamler two years ago from the high school ranks. The move looked like gold.

``I didn't have a clue that basketball was going to go so well for us this year,'' McLean said. ``Our name was staying in the newspapers, radio and television for three or four months. The university reaped a lot of benefits from that.

``As a department we're trying to work on image on a constant basis.That was something we accomplished this year and will build for the coming years.''

Because of the national exposure that the basketball team received, the Viking sports program had an easier time recruiting for all sports this spring, McLean said.

``There's a correlation between the two,'' McLean said. ``Coach Hamler has signed one of the top point guards coming out of Virginia, and a couple of big kids that are coming, too.

``They heard about ECSU's success. We had a football recruit from California tell us he saw the basketball team on television.''

Another coach that Hamler has hired from the high school ranks is Elisha ``Cadillac'' Harris, the head football coach. In his first campaign, Harris had the Vikings in the running for the CIAA championship in the final weeks of the season.

``You have to look at the track records of these coaches, even in high school,'' McLean said. ``You have to look at what a coach is going to do for you, not only on the court but off the court.

``Take Hamler, for instance. He had a lot of success in developing young people. Winning is just a byproduct of that. A lot of people thought hiring him was a gamble, but he had proven that he could develop a program.''

The story was similar for ECSU's football coach.

``Coach Harris was the same way,'' McLean said. ``He was noted for having the majority of his players signing to play at Division I and Division II schools.

``Those are some of the same traits that we need in the colleges and universities. We wanted somebody who was hungry for success.''

McLean, who worked at Clark-Atlanta University as an educator and athletic administrator before coming to Elizabeth City, has seen the respect for ECSU's athletic program grow. And over the last four years, McLean has witnessed a shuffle in the CIAA pecking order.

``The first few months I was here, I got a lot of calls from people who wanted ECSU on their schedule. That's an indication right there that you don't have a lot of respect. Everybody wanted to play us in football on their homecoming,'' he said.

Other schools are calling less frequently. Hamler has had a tough time finding nonconference opponents to play in basketball, McLean said.

``The shift in power has changed in the conference, too, and ECSU has contributed to that. It's a different situation all together now,'' McLean said. ``We are becoming the team like Virginia Union in basketball and Virginia State in football - the team to beat. It's a good feeling.''

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