By Al Myatt
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East Carolina football coach Ruffin McNeill has a good record in season openers as a Pirate. He never lost the first game of a season as a player and is unbeaten as an ECU coach in leadoff contests in Greenville.

That string of success included a 48-0 win over Southern Miss in his freshman season in the Pirate program in 1976. The following season, ECU opened the season against N.C. State in Raleigh and McNeill made a tackle in the closing stages that preserved a 28-23 win. Ruff's teams his junior and senior seasons opened at home with wins over Western Carolina.

His first game as head coach at ECU produced a thrilling 51-49 triumph over Tulsa as Dominique Davis connected with Justin Jones on a game-ending Hail Mary in 2010. Last year, the Pirates took a 35-13 win over Appalachian State in sweltering heat.

The only season-opening loss for McNeill came in Charlotte in 2011 when ECU got out to a 17-0 lead on South Carolina before the Gamecocks took advantage of Pirate turnovers to rally for a 56-37 victory.

That's a pretty good track record as ECU gets set to host Old Dominion on Saturday at 7 p.m.

"There's something special about playing at home, where your family and fans are in the stands," said McNeill, who was coached at ECU by Pat Dye, a member of the ECU and College Football halls of fame. "Coach Dye would always tell us, 'You're not playing for yourself. You're playing for your mamas and your daddys and your family members up in the stands.' The reason I refer to family so much is that he not only meant our immediate family but he meant our Pirate family.

"Whenever we played at home, I know as a player and I feel that same way as a coach that the kids are playing not only for themselves and their teammates but for their families — not only their immediate family but also their Pirate family."

The basics are essential to a good start.

"The key in all games and especially in first games is fundamentals," McNeill said. "It goes back to making sure we block well and making sure we tackle well. The second thing is making sure we're a smart football team and we don't do things to beat ourselves."

Avoiding penalties is a McNeill tenet.

"It will be an anxious game and an exciting game for both teams," McNeill said. "It's not like the NFL, where you have preseason games and you can warm up and that type of thing. It's practice, practice, practice and then you play and it actually counts. ... They'll be some great plays and some tough plays. Being able to play the next play is very important.

"The last thing is to make sure we make routine plays — do your job and make routine plays. That means, whatever your job entails, just do that. Do your job in a full speed effort and then make the routine play — routine block, routine catch, throw, tackle, kick, punt — whatever it is. Make the routine plays over and over and over again. Then the big plays and the long plays will come."

Thursday practice emphasis

ECU had its last heavy practice day of opening game week on Wednesday. The Pirates will be polishing up today.

Ruff will address the team on overtime procedure to open the session this afternoon.

"That's the last phase of football IQ we have," McNeill said.

Then special teams coordinator Kirk Doll will talk to the entire team about the various segments of the coverage, kick, punt and return units.

"The first 30 minutes on the field deal with all phases of special teams," McNeill said. "Once we finish that, we'll go into offensive and defensive script. It's usually a 40- or 50-play script with regard to down and distance and substitutions, etc. Then we'll call it up and we'll get ready to rock and roll."

Pulling offseason work together

The Pirates lifted incalculable pounds and ran countless yards in offseason conditioning supervised by strength coach Jeff Connors. There were also 15 spring practice sessions. The value of the winter, spring and summer workouts is relevant to the team's performance in the real season, starting Saturday night.

"The gift of that is having Jeff Connors here," McNeill said. "Having been a football player himself and being one of the tops in the strength and conditioning profession, he understands that the main thing is the main thing. That's how he puts it. The main thing is football. Everything he does in the weight room, from conditioning to training is geared toward the guys being able to tie in offseason to actual use. I can see Jeff's influence. The kids understand that Coach Connors' programs give them the best chance for success on the field at their positions and as a team."

Connors continues to condition the Pirates during the season, a philosophy that former North Carolina coach Butch Davis did not share when Connors was strength and conditioning coach for the Tar Heels.

"We'll back off after (Wednesday) for this week," McNeill said. "But that's one of the things that I'm for. When the fourth quarter comes, we know we can play. We're a fast football team. We want to be a fast football team in the fourth quarter, too."

50th anniversaries

ECU is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. It was actually just Ficklen Stadium when the Pirates dealt Wake Forest a 20-10 loss in the first game at the structure in 1963. Capacity at that time was 17,000.

This week also marks the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.

"I was four at the time," McNeill said. "My Mom and Dad taught in segregated schools at that time. When schools did integrate, my Mom and Dad were two of the first teachers to integrate in Lumberton and I was one of the first students to integrate in Lumberton.

"All of that ties in. It's really ironic that the 50th anniversary of Dowdy-Ficklen is also the 50th anniversary of Dr. King's speech. East Carolina to me exemplifies what Dr. King mentioned. Everybody is somebody. This school has been a university that gives people first and second chances. There's a love at East Carolina University that's unmatched because we welcome people. We welcome everyone here.

"I was a part of that (civil rights movement). I was young but I could see and feel. At my age, we grew up in that era. I've also seen change from segregation to integration to now everybody has opportunity to achieve and reach max potential. East Carolina exemplifies that in my mind at the highest level I've ever been around. East Carolina has been great and Greenville has been great for that cause."

Smith, Magazu reunited

ECU defensive coordinator and secondary coach Rick Smith had the same responsibilities at Kentucky in 1996 when Dave Magazu was coaching centers and guards for the Wildcats. Magazu is the father of Pirates free safety Damon Magazu. The elder Magazu now coaches offensive linemen for the Denver Broncos.

"I worked with his dad at the University of Kentucky," Smith said. "I know his Mama (Carrie) real well. I recruited Damon when he was a senior in high school when I was here (at ECU) before."

Smith coached the defensive backs at ECU from 2005 to 2009 when Skip Holtz was directing the Pirates. Holtz departed for South Florida after winning a second straight Conference USA championship with the Pirates in 2009.

"He was offered by us, here," Smith said of Magazu's recruitment from Charlotte Providence when Magazu's dad was on the Carolina Panthers staff. "When I went to South Florida, his dad wanted him to play for me. Dave called me and so did Damon. Coach Holtz had made an agreement with the administration here that we would not recruit anybody that we had been recruiting when we left here. It hurt me that I couldn't take him because I love the kid.

"I remember when he was running around in our office (at Kentucky) when he was little. He's a coach's brat. He's always been around football. He has tremendous instincts. He's not a great athlete. He knows that. He's a good athlete but a good athlete with instincts plays like a great athlete."

Smith compared Magazu to Van Eskridge, who played on ECU's last C-USA title team.

"Van Eskridge was not a great athlete," Smith said. "Van Eskridge started here for three years in the secondary. As a redshirt freshman two weeks before we played Navy, we lost two linebackers in a scrimmage. We moved him from second team free safety to starting (weakside) linebacker and he led the team in tackles. ... He had 17 tackles at Navy. Then we moved him back to free safety. Damon is a lot like him. He's just a football player. He does things.

"As a secondary coach, you want players. You want to coach 'em, but you don't want robots. You don't want guys going, 'Coach Smith said, 'Step one. OK, step two.' ' If they're doing that, the ball's behind them. You want to tell them how to do their job. Tell 'em as little as they need to know to do that job. Then they're not thinking. When kids are thinking back there, they get beat.

"But Damon Magazu is just a wonderful young man and a very good football player."

Defense has tool box, too

Coach McNeill mentioned the tool box for the offense in his remarks on media day.

"We've got a tool box, too," Smith said of the defensive unit. "I learned that a long time ago from a guy when I worked for Bill Curry at Georgia Tech. Don Lindsey was the defensive coordinator there and I also worked for Rick Lantz, who was the defensive coordinator there.

"Don Lindsey always talked about the tool box. If you hire a plumber and he comes to your house and all he's got is a pair of pliers, he might not be a very good plumber. When that plumber walks in the house, you want him to have all the tools that a plumber needs so he can fix whatever he needs to fix. As the secondary coach, I want my guys to have as many tools back there as they can to create confusion for the quarterback so we're not going to play just one coverage.

"We're going to be very multiple on the back end. I think that's a little bit different philosophy than what they had last year. We're going to disguise. We're going to do a lot back there."

Similar situation

Smith took over the defense after the Pirates yielded 439.7 yards and 31.6 points per game in 2012. Old Dominion also has a new secondary coach and defensive coordinator, Rich Nagy, after the Monarchs gave up 420 yards and 30.5 points per game against Football Championship Series competition in 2012.

Nagy had been at Maine when current Monarchs head coach Bobby Wilder was offensive coordinator for the Black Bears.

Nagy was defensive coordinator at Western Michigan last year and the Broncos went from 11th in defense in the Mid-American Conference in 2011 to fifth.

The defensive changes at ODU moved former coordinator Bill Dee to defensive line coach. Former Monarchs defensive line coach and assistant head coach Dealton Cotton was dismissed. Cotton was on ECU's 11-1 team in 1991 and became head coach at Norview High in Norfolk shortly after leaving ODU.

ODU notes

Smith said he expected some sleepless nights before ECU's season opener. ODU quarterback Taylor Heinicke is a big reason why the Pirates DC may be up.

Heinicke was the 2012 Walter Payton Award Winner, the FCS equivalent to the Heisman Trophy, as a sophomore. He passed for an FCS single-season record 5,076 yards with 44 touchdowns and ran for an additional 11 scores in 2011. The Atlanta native threw for an NCAA Division I record 730 yards in ODU's 64-61 triumph over New Hampshire last year. Heinicke also set an NCAA division record with 791 yards of total offense in that game.

ODU is transitioning to the Football Bowl Subdivision and Conference USA in 2013 before playing a full C-USA schedule in 2014. The Monarchs visit five FBS programs this season, including East Carolina, Maryland, Pittsburgh, Idaho and North Carolina. ODU visits the Terps the Saturday after the matchup in Greenville. The Monarchs go to Chapel Hill on Nov. 23.

The date in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium will be the first game for ODU with an FBS foe. The biggest crowd to see an ODU game thus far was 23,051 last season at James Madison. Around 50,000 are expected Saturday night.

More movies

After family, football and walking for his health, McNeill has a passion for movies.

"I've seen a bunch of good movies this summer," said the Pirates coach. "I found out how to work Netflix. Erlene (wife) knew. Olivia (youngest daughter) knew. Everybody knew except me. I can watch all kinds of movies. ... I watched so many movies. ... It's been fantastic to find out the beauty of Netflix."

The Pirates take in a movie as a team the night before a game.

This week's selection is '2 Guns' with Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg.

"I think it's going to be very adventurous, exciting," said the ECU coach.

Ruff was talking about the flick, but it could describe prospects for the 2013 season, too.