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ECU football coach
Ruffin McNeill |
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(Bonesville
archive photo by W.A. Myatt) |
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FOOTBALL |
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A number for all seasons |
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 The
famed No. 23 is back in the dugout
at East Carolina. First-year Pirate
coach Cliff Godwin, who played under
Keith LeClair during some of ECU's
best baseball seasons, will wear his
former coach's number in 2015.
 It
was my honor and privilege to serve as emcee for the first ever "Evening
with the Pirates" dinner. In doing so I got to be a part of what is
always such a special event for the school's baseball program. ...
Story and pictures from
Brian Bailey... |
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Audio: The Brian Bailey
Show |
  The
Brian Bailey Show
airs on Pirate Radio
1250 on Mondays at 6:30
p.m. Brian's guest
this week was
Fayetteville
Observer and
Bonesville
recruiting analyst
Sammy Batten
(right):
Replay
show... |
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BASKETBALL |
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Pirates close out
Cincinnati |
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 GREENVILLE —
East Carolina scored the
last 11 points of Sunday's
American Athletic Conference
contest with Cincinnati in
Williams Arena at Minges
Coliseum for a 50-46 win.
Freshman
B.J. Tyson led ECU with 18
points as the Pirates halted
a three-game losing streak
with their first triumph in
nine tries against
Cincinnati. ...
Story & photos... |
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Pictured: Freshman
guard B.J. Tyson
scores on an
aggressive drive in
the second half of
ECU's upset win over
visiting Cincinnati
on Sunday afternoon. (Photo by W.A.
Myatt.) |
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Next: ECU at UConn |
Wednesday, 7 pm
| TV: ESPNU |
The Season
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BASEBALL |
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Homegrown Pirate toured the
bases |
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 Players
begin at home plate
offensively in baseball and
the objective is to get
around the bases. The goal
is to get back home and that
describes the journey of
Cliff Godwin, East
Carolina's first-year
baseball coach ...
More from Al Myatt... |
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BASKETBALL |
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Memphis holds off ECU rally |
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MEMPHIS — East Carolina fell
behind 24-9 in its American
Athletic Conference contest
at Memphis on Wednesday
night and absorbed a 70-58
loss after pulling within
62-58 with 3:50 remaining.
The Pirates were 13 for 27
behind the 3-point arc (48.1
percent) in falling to 8-12
overall and 1-6 in league
play. ...
More... |
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By
Brett Friedlander
©2015 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
Review ECU's
2014 football season...
VIEW MOBILE VERSION OF THIS PAGE
There’s a reason the best coaches, no matter what the
sport, never seem to get taken by surprise.
It’s because they’re always thinking one, two, sometimes
even three plays ahead.
That approach doesn’t just serve them well on the
sideline on game day. As East Carolina football coach Ruffin McNeill
demonstrated recently, it’s just as important during the offseason in
anticipating potentially damaging staff movement.
Understanding that he wouldn’t be able to keep his
upwardly mobile young offensive coordinator in Greenville much longer,
McNeill didn’t wait for Lincoln Riley to be cherry picked away by a
brand name Power 5 program before starting his search for a replacement.
He went out and hired an heir apparent three years before
he actually needed one.
Like Riley, Dave Nichol was a former Texas Tech receiver
who learned the intricacies of the Air Raid offense from the master
himself — former Red Raiders coach Mike Leach. Like Riley, he is young,
aggressive and in sync with McNeill and the culture surrounding the
Pirates.
Most important, he’s built the kind of trust with players
already in the program during his apprenticeship as ECU’s outside
receivers coach — and with recruits getting ready to arrive — that his
transition should be seamless
now that Riley has left for Oklahoma
and Nichol will be the man calling the plays.
“The promotion with Dave to offensive coordinator was
thought out long ago,” said McNeill, who brought Nichol to ECU from
Arizona in 2012. “When somebody leaves, we’ve got a guy ready to go.
Dave was the guy the second I talked to Lincoln and knew he was gone. No
hesitation.”
That decisiveness, in this case, was critical.
Because while McNeill knew that it was more a matter of
when than if Riley would leave — the 31-year-old turned down four offers
before finally taking the OC job with the Sooners on Jan. 12 — the
timing of his departure couldn’t have been much worse.
The 2015 season was already going to be one of offensive
transition as the Pirates look to graduate from a successful team built
around a once-in-a-generation class of players to a consistent winning
program capable of carrying on without significant drop-off even after
losing the likes of wide receiver Justin Hardy, the all-time leading
receiver in FBS, record-setting quarterback Shane Carden and leading
rusher Breon Allen.
That made the hiring of Riley’s replacement even more
important than the one that brought in Rick Smith to fix a broken
defense two years ago.
As effective a CEO and father figure as McNeill might be,
he is the type of coach that allows his coordinators the freedom to do
whatever they think is necessary to get the job done and win games. That
kind of system can only work, however, when the head coach, the play
caller and their quarterback — in this case, untested sophomore Kurt
Benkert — are all on the same page.
Nichol’s promotion doesn’t guarantee that happening. But
there’s a better chance it will, thanks to the chemistry that already
exists between the new coordinator, his new quarterback and the rest of
an offense that doesn’t figure to change much despite the significant
reshuffling of the deck that’s in store.
“This is the ECU offense,” Nichol said. “We’re going to
try to keep it going and keep it as similar as we can. The base
structure of what we’re going to do is going to be the same. Now, it
changes sometimes because of personnel and that changes year-to-year
with our personnel. But for the most part, it should look similar to
everybody.”
That’s the idea McNeill had in mind when his forward
thinking first set this process in motion.
Under Nichol’s guidance, outside receivers Lance Ray and
Reese Wiggins both become all-conference performers while graduating
senior Cam Worthy has developed into a reliable deep threat with NFL
potential. Nichol also served as Riley’s "eye in the sky," contributing
his insight from the press box to an offense that ranked third
nationally in passing and fifth in total yardage this season while
setting 70 individual and team records since his arrival.
The experience he’s gained, along with the continuity he
provides through his familiarity with the program, its players and
offensive philosophy give the Pirates their best shot at extending their
success into the foreseeable future.
Or at least until it’s his time to be cherry picked away
by a brand name Power 5 program.
Review ECU's
2014 football season...
