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Some of the happiest days of my life were The ones I spent with East Carolina football. I spent all my time thinking about football. That was a change from coaching high school football where I had to worry about teaching class.

We played in some of the best stadiums in the country and with some of the best teams I’ve witnessed. Made some of the best friends I ever met and coaches, they’re the best!

We played at BYU, the Cincinnati Bengals stadium, Philadelphia Eagles stadium and the Carolina Panthers stadium in Charlotte. I will never forget my visit to Raymond James Stadium, the home of the Tampa Bay Bucs where we had to empty all equipment at the hotel to pass security. We played in Birmingham and I propped on the goal post like I had seen Coach Bear Bryant do.

We played in the Swamp, Keenan Stadium, Carter-Finley, Virginia Tech and at the Superdome where the New Orleans Saints play. We practiced in the Saints indoor practice facility.

My favorite bowl game, we were lucky enough to play in nine, was the Hawaii Bowl. We stayed 10 days at The Sheraton hotel and bused to the stadium each day to have practice. We played Boise State that year and Chris Johnson put on a show. The two others were two Liberty Bowls in Memphis.

One other bowl game I treasure was with Tracey. We were married on a bye week and had our honeymoon at The Military Bowl and the team stayed at the Mayflower Hotel in downtown D.C.

Now don’t get me wrong, we had to work at these games. Different coaches have different approaches to Bowl games. We approached everyone like that was another game. We recruited and we spent time in the film room.

We flew to away games unless it was a trip close by and the team always stayed in the finest hotels, which helped with recruiting. We stayed at the Greenville Hilton on a Friday before home games because we felt that our players got more rest and weren’t distracted. We ate good too.

They were the best of times with the best of friends and in the best of places, Washington, N.C.! The Original Washington!

Harold Jr.