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Todd Fitch is only 43 years old, but he's already seen the country and numerous college campuses.
Stops at Ohio Wesleyan, Bowling Green, West Virginia, Colorado State, Connecticut, South Carolina and Iowa State dot the Bellaire High graduate's resume.
However, now that he's the offensive coordinator at East Carolina University under Skip Holtz, Fitch is heading to some place he's never been.
The Pirates -- by virtue of finishing the season with a 7-5 record -- earned themselves a spot in a bowl game. Not just any bowl game. The Pirates will board a charted jet and head to Hawaii to meet Boise State in the Hawaii Bowl on Dec. 23.
There's probably an argument to be made that if you can't play in the BCS Title Game, playing in the Hawaii Bowl is possibly the next best thing.
"It'll definitely be exciting when we get there," Fitch said. "My family is going to be making the trip. They are becoming pretty used to making these bowl trips."
When the Pirates get on their flight to Aloha Stadium, they will be there for a while.
"They've told us it's going to be about a 10-12 hour flight going out," Fitch said. "We'll stop to refuel in California."
Once the players set foot in Hawaii, they will immediately head to the practice site to begin preparations for the Broncos who were the darlings of college football last year when they spoiled the BCS and then knocked off Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.
"Boise State will be a tough challenge for us," Fitch said. "They probably don't have what you'd consider a great athlete in terms of big NFL prospects, but they are physical and they play well together."
Getting to the bowl game was no easy chore for a Pirates' team, which had rugged road tests at BCS Bowl entrants Virginia Tech and West Virginia along with games against North Carolina and N.C. State.
"We play a very aggressive schedule here," Fitch said. "We've definitely seen some good teams. We got our butts kicked in Morgantown and had to open with Virginia Tech. We play all schools in BCS conferences out of the league."
The Pirates came into the season with new players dotting the offensive roster along with Fitch coming to work with Holtz after serving as the quarterbacks coach at Iowa State.
"We had lost a lot of skill players from last year's team," Fitch said. "We've been growing in the passing game and we're almost 50-50 balanced. Our young guys have been coming on and because of that we've been able to run a little bit of everything from spread packages to the straight I (formation)."
Some of the players to keep an eye on during the Dec. 23 game, which can be viewed on ESPN at 8 p.m. eastern time, are Chris Johnson, who Fitch thinks can be a most productive NFL player and calls him "the fastest player" he's ever coached. Another to watch is sophomore wide receiver Jamar Bryant.
"With Boise State, we are expecting to see a little more man coverage," Fitch said. "It will definitely be a challenge for us."
Before total attention shifted to the Broncos, Fitch and the rest of the Pirates' coaching staff have been on the road recruiting and practicing on the weekends while the players have finished up their academic term.
"I think we've got 13 scholarships to give and we've gotten most of those filled," Fitch explained. "We've added some depth in places where we needed it, but we've got a pretty young team with only 13-14 seniors, so we had to go out and address some needs."
Playing a bowl game this early in the bowl season is by no means something that bothers Fitch. However, he's the first to admit that no matter when the bowl game is played there are some kinds of issues to work around.
"I have coached in bowl games on New Year's Day, games on Dec. 27 and Dec. 28 and now Dec. 23 and all of them have issues," Fitch noted. "Sometimes it's tough to keep the kids focused on preparations toward the New Year, but now the timing of everything is sped up. We played 11 straight weeks to end the season, so the rest has been beneficial for us."
As the remainder of the bowl games, Fitch will be watching some. When asked about the current BCS system, which technically, East Carolina isn't a part of because of its affiliation with Conference USA, Fitch had mixed feelings.
"The BCS is a unique thing," Fitch said. "I have coached in the SEC and the Big 12 and the discrepancy comes because those conferences have conference championship games. This year was the perfect example with Ohio State because they sat at home for two weeks and watched everyone knock each other off and basically got a big chuckle out of everything."
So like most media members, coaches and even fans, the search for an answer goes on for the ways to correct the BCS formula without adding a playoff.
"Obviously, the conferences with championship games aren't going to give those up because of television and all of the revenue, so it's either going to have to be where the championship game doesn't hurt you or every conference is going to have to add some sort of championship game. There are just too many logistics for a playoff to work, but I do think a plus one kind of format may work."
The rigors of coaching major college football don't afford Fitch too many opportunities to get back to the Ohio Valley, but when he does have a chance he sure enjoys it.
"I was back in the area probably a year ago and was able to see some family," Fitch said. "I definitely don't get back as much as I would like, but when you live this close to the beach, a lot of people just come here."
Todd and his wife Julie have two children, Curtis and Peyton.
SETH'S SCOOPS
• TOOK IN three of the five games at Saturday's Cancer Research Classic. The event was top-shelf and so were the players. It's just a darn shame that more Ohio Valley folks didn't get out to take it in. The event featured some of the best players in the nation and there was very few people there to see it. I understand that road conditions weren't the best, but I actually saw a person refuse to come in because the $10 was too steep. I mean come on, the money is for charity and you get five games, which I believe is $2 per game.
Staskey can be reached at sstaskey@timesleaderonline.com