When East Carolina’s football team upset eighth-ranked West Virginia last weekend, the school’s fans rushed the field in celebration. Many fans were detained by police, with some of the fans alleging police brutality.

Today on the Double-A Zone, East Carolina Athletics Director Terry Holland discusses his school’s traditions and offers advice for any university dealing with inappropriate fan behavior.

According to Holland, Saturday’s field rush was unusual and bucked long-held university traditions. Typically, when East Carolina wins a game, Holland said its football student-athletes join the band in singing the fight song. The players then take a lap around the field, thanking students and other fans in the stands. 

“In this particular case,” Holland said, “I think our fans felt like they needed to show that extra enthusiasm by doing what they’ve seen on television and assuming that was OK. It’s not OK.”

Although Holland doesn’t fault the fans, he said most conferences, including his own, have rules against spectators entering the field of play (the SEC, for example, has a system of fines in place for schools at which these instances occur). While Holland thinks these rules are a good idea, he also said universities should actively educate their fans on appropriate behavior and make it known that, despite what’s seen on TV, rushing the field is dangerous. 

“As soon as (the fans) realize that this is not something that’s acceptable in college athletics today, they will respond and we’ll go back to our traditional and what I think is a more appropriate celebration with our players storming the stands and not vice versa,” Holland said.

Click here to access the entire interview on the Double-A Zone, the official blog of the NCAA.