New coach finds home on ECU hardwood

Mike Schwartz says transition to Greenville has been rewarding

By Patrick Mason

Mike Schwartz has been coaching basketball as a collegiate assistant for nearly two dozen years with a number of programs around the country, so it’s natural for the new East Carolina men’s basketball coach to look like he’s done this before.

In reality, Schwartz is learning in real time. coach after spending the past seven seasons as at Tennessee. His time as a collegiate assistant goes back to 1999 and spans eight schools.

Greenville. The Pirates are well into American Athletic Conference play and the foundation has been laid.

When Schwartz thinks back to the beginning, he remembers couple of months in town. His family — wife Stephanie and two kids Sydney and Samantha — remained in Knoxville, Tenn., while he got started at ECU in March. challenge for me, as exciting as everything was,” Schwartz said. “Stephanie, Sydney and Sam were back in Knoxville and I was here. We had what we called the fraternity house. All of us living together, all the coaches living together.” what dad’s new job was like. Schwartz agreed and the two hit the road.

He and his assistants stayed in a lake house while looking for more permanent housing. It felt like the college years all over again.

His family moved to Greenville, and by the summer everything was in place for the upcoming season. His family settled in, too, as his daughter Sydney competed in a national soccer tournament in July through an AAU team based out of Wilson.

It was those days starting out that Schwartz remembers as worthwhile. The chaos even allowed for a special bonding time.

When he left the coaching frat house and returned to Tennessee to visit his family around Mother’s Day, his daughter Samantha asked if she could return to Greenville with him.

“Sam has been my road warrior,” he said. “So Sam came back with me the Monday after Mother’s Day, and the whole month of May she traveled with me and the Pirate Club all around the state. And she was there for everything. She was there at speaking engagements, we did one in Raleigh where it was kind of a bar with a lounge and she was sitting in the back, kind of in the green room in the back of the theater.” a group of attendees that he was introduced to the college after arriving in Greenville and a group of diners had started the familiar ‘Purple-Gold’ chant as his party was leaving the restaurant.

“We were walking out and all of a sudden a table of about 10 people started screaming ‘Purple!’ and we looked at them was (assistant coach) Riley Davis who knew that when someone chants purple, you say gold. So we went back and forth.

“The fan base and the passion of this community is awesome. ECU Pirate fans, this fan base, they come to see the Pirates.

They don’t come to see the opponent. … The fan base here is passionate and they come here to support the Pirates and that’s so awesome. As a college coach, that’s what you look for. That’s what you look for when you determine if this place is exciting and if you want to be there. And this place sure as heck has that.” basketball coach, whose work involves hollering defensive assignments across the court and working over the referees. said when he was hired. “We’re going to do everything we can to make this an NCAA tournament team, a postseason team and build the strongest possible program possible.”

Minges Coliseum, the home of the Pirates, can get loud when the home team plays well. Schwartz is learning that, too.

He has a way of sounding like he is on the verge of losing his voice during each of his postgame sessions with the media.

When not stalking the sideline, Schwartz can be found in a deep crouch by the scorer’s table. He looks and sounds like a of building the program into a consistent winner.

Pirates came calling in March as ECU athletic director Jon Gilbert opted for a fresh start with an ambitious-thinking coach.

Schwartz draws from successful previous stops as he envisions a winner at ECU. He is tasked with reviving a basketball program that hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament since the 1992-93 season.

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