(12-06-2015 01:22 PM)k-vegasbuc Wrote:  Costly penalties, turnovers, clock management, and struggling defense are what cost us wins.

Speaking as a Houston fan, all of this characterized Art Briles teams up until we won conference (and even then we dealt with all of that). We were patient with Art though, and it looks like he's grown into a decent coach.

Sometimes you have to be patient with coaches. Just like Ruffin, Art Briles was an alum.

(12-06-2015 12:46 PM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:23 AM)PirateTreasureNC Wrote:  Monday is going to be one interesting day....I wonder what the fallout will be by the time 12:01 Am Tuesday hits....

What will happen. Nothing. Those of us that have sat in the stand for the last 36 games know that this team was not moving ahead and change was imminent. The football experts on this and that mess called the BYB have blinders on.

Except this wasn't strictly a football move. This was a move by an A.D. to try to get out of town before his new boss is hired. Compher knows that he will not have a job once Ballard's replacement is found, because the new person is going to bring their own A.D.

This was a strictly personal move by Compher to try to hire a coach for just one season, so that he can bail. If it succeeds then Compher will jump ship. If it fails then Compher is going to get fired anyway by his new boss. Anyway it goes ECU is going to be left holding the bag. The new AD is just going to turn around and fire the new coach that Compher hires anyway; if that coach can't get out of town first.


http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/Balla...14281.html

(12-06-2015 01:27 PM)BigEastHomer Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:22 PM)k-vegasbuc Wrote:  Costly penalties, turnovers, clock management, and struggling defense are what cost us wins.

Speaking as a Houston fan, all of this characterized Art Briles teams up until we won conference (and even then we dealt with all of that). We were patient with Art though, and it looks like he's grown into a decent coach.

Sometimes you have to be patient with coaches. Just like Ruffin, Art Briles was an alum.

Yeah I've asked myself that several times and I hate to say it because I love Ruff, but I don't think we'll ever get there with him. Like I said I would have given one more year just so he wouldn't have the excuse of the QB injuries to not win a conference title but it was not an abberration but a trend. We always struggled the last half of the season.

Art Briles had only 1 losing season (his 2nd) at Houston and won the conference title in his 4th year. Again if you look strictly at the numbers he's mediocre at best.

(12-06-2015 01:27 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 12:46 PM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:23 AM)PirateTreasureNC Wrote:  Monday is going to be one interesting day....I wonder what the fallout will be by the time 12:01 Am Tuesday hits....

What will happen. Nothing. Those of us that have sat in the stand for the last 36 games know that this team was not moving ahead and change was imminent. The football experts on this and that mess called the BYB have blinders on.

Except this wasn't strictly a football move. This was a move by an A.D. to try to get out of town before his new boss is hired. Compher knows that he will not have a job once Ballard's replacement is found, because the new person is going to bring their own A.D.

This was a strictly personal move by Compher to try to hire a coach for just one season, so that he can bail. If it succeeds then Compher will jump ship. If it fails then Compher is going to get fired anyway by his new boss. Anyway it goes ECU is going to be left holding the bag. The new AD is just going to turn around and fire the new coach that Compher hires anyway; if that coach can't get out of town first.


http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/Balla...14281.html

Nothing you said is fact. Compher may want to move to another school, if he does that's fine with me that means he's going to do his best to leave ECU in good shape. This is not some sort of conspiracy to torpedo the program before he gets out. And even with a new president that should have no impact on the AD. Again he's tied his success and failure to this hire, if he succeeds great, if he fails he will be fired and you'll get your wish.

The fact that our Chancellor is retiring has nothing to do with this, again the largest cause for this in my opinion is the arms race in our conference and the decline of our season tickets and attendance. He wants to vastly improve our stadium, he needs excitement to do it.

(12-06-2015 01:33 PM)k-vegasbuc Wrote:  Art Briles had only 1 losing season (his 2nd) at Houston and won the conference title in his 4th year. Again if you look strictly at the numbers he's mediocre at best.

This is true. And I understand what you are saying. However, Dana Dimel didn't leave the cupboard bare for Art. He redshirted the entire class the year before. He raised the talent level but was a bad coach. Art also lucked into a QB who was raised in his system at Stephenville, Kevin Kolb, being available (he decommitted from Oklahoma State to come to Houston). We still got mediocre results for a long time. We even lost to Ulala during our championship year.

(12-06-2015 01:37 PM)k-vegasbuc Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:27 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 12:46 PM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:23 AM)PirateTreasureNC Wrote:  Monday is going to be one interesting day....I wonder what the fallout will be by the time 12:01 Am Tuesday hits....

What will happen. Nothing. Those of us that have sat in the stand for the last 36 games know that this team was not moving ahead and change was imminent. The football experts on this and that mess called the BYB have blinders on.

Except this wasn't strictly a football move. This was a move by an A.D. to try to get out of town before his new boss is hired. Compher knows that he will not have a job once Ballard's replacement is found, because the new person is going to bring their own A.D.

This was a strictly personal move by Compher to try to hire a coach for just one season, so that he can bail. If it succeeds then Compher will jump ship. If it fails then Compher is going to get fired anyway by his new boss. Anyway it goes ECU is going to be left holding the bag. The new AD is just going to turn around and fire the new coach that Compher hires anyway; if that coach can't get out of town first.


http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/Balla...14281.html

Nothing you said is fact. Compher may want to move to another school, if he does that's fine with me that means he's going to do his best to leave ECU in good shape. This is not some sort of conspiracy to torpedo the program before he gets out. And even with a new president that should have no impact on the AD. Again he's tied his success and failure to this hire, if he succeeds great, if he fails he will be fired and you'll get your wish.

The fact that our Chancellor is retiring has nothing to do with this, again the largest cause for this in my opinion is the arms race in our conference and the decline of our season tickets and attendance. He wants to vastly improve our stadium, he needs excitement to do it.

One more year of Ruffin would not have made a difference in anything that the school is trying to do, because Ruffin only had 2 years left on his deal; which lines up nicely with the arrival of the new Chancellor. Compher's move has actually put more debt on ECU, because the school will now have to pay off Ruff as well as a new coach. On top of all of that the new coach at ECU will either be desperate or dumb, because they have to know that Compher is going to be out of a job as soon as the new Chancellor is hired; which means that the new coach will be out of a job as soon as Compher's replacement is found. This was a terrible business and football move by Compher and he only did it so he can get out of town, before his new boss can fire him.

Btw, just take a look at Tulane.

Scott Cowen retired last year. http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/...es_he.html

The new President is Michael Fitt. http://tulane.edu/administration/president/

The new President hired a new athletic director. http://www.nola.com/tulane/index.ssf/201...t_man.html

The new Tulane A.D. is in the process of hiring a new football coach.

That is what is about to happen at ECU. Compher knows it and he is burning bridges to get out of there.

(12-06-2015 01:46 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:37 PM)k-vegasbuc Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:27 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 12:46 PM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:23 AM)PirateTreasureNC Wrote:  Monday is going to be one interesting day....I wonder what the fallout will be by the time 12:01 Am Tuesday hits....

What will happen. Nothing. Those of us that have sat in the stand for the last 36 games know that this team was not moving ahead and change was imminent. The football experts on this and that mess called the BYB have blinders on.

Except this wasn't strictly a football move. This was a move by an A.D. to try to get out of town before his new boss is hired. Compher knows that he will not have a job once Ballard's replacement is found, because the new person is going to bring their own A.D.

This was a strictly personal move by Compher to try to hire a coach for just one season, so that he can bail. If it succeeds then Compher will jump ship. If it fails then Compher is going to get fired anyway by his new boss. Anyway it goes ECU is going to be left holding the bag. The new AD is just going to turn around and fire the new coach that Compher hires anyway; if that coach can't get out of town first.


http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/Balla...14281.html

Nothing you said is fact. Compher may want to move to another school, if he does that's fine with me that means he's going to do his best to leave ECU in good shape. This is not some sort of conspiracy to torpedo the program before he gets out. And even with a new president that should have no impact on the AD. Again he's tied his success and failure to this hire, if he succeeds great, if he fails he will be fired and you'll get your wish.

The fact that our Chancellor is retiring has nothing to do with this, again the largest cause for this in my opinion is the arms race in our conference and the decline of our season tickets and attendance. He wants to vastly improve our stadium, he needs excitement to do it.

One more year of Ruffin would not have made a difference in anything that the school is trying to do, because Ruffin only had 2 years left on his deal; which lines up nicely with the arrival of the new Chancellor. Compher's move has actually put more debt on ECU, because the school will now have to pay off Ruff as well as a new coach. On top of all of that the new coach at ECU will either be desperate or dumb, because they have to know that Compher is going to be out of a job as soon as the new Chancellor is hired; which means that the new coach will be out of a job as soon as Compher's replacement is found. This was a terrible business and football move by Compher and he only did it so he can get out of town, before his new boss can fire him.

Btw, just take a look at Tulane.

Scott Cowen retired last year. http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/...es_he.html

The new President is Michael Fitt. http://tulane.edu/administration/president/

The new President hired a new athletic director. http://www.nola.com/tulane/index.ssf/201...t_man.html

The new Tulane A.D. is in the process of hiring a new football coach.

That is what is about to happen at ECU. Compher knows it and he is burning bridges to get out of there.

I agree that I would have waited one more year, I've had my doubts since last season about Ruff but to pacify the fanbase I would have given him one more year so if anything he couldn't use the injury excuse. That being said I don't think adding Benkert in turns us from a 5 win team to conference contender, he might win us a couple more games. Again there's nothing wrong with winning 7 or 8 games some seasons but are we going to ever have that special season, I think Ruff has had 6 years to and last year set up perfectly for that special season (we avoided Memphis and Houston last year) and we couldn't do it. This year you hope to make a bowl and regroup for next year and again we had a late season collapse and don't make a bowl. The apathy in our program has grown the last couple of years and I think Compher felt we needed a new fire in there. He saw that even with all the job openings many great candidates were at play and decided to make the move.

Listen if he want's to move on to other programs thats fine, you don't do that but torpedoing a program, if he did that no other school would touch him. Again look at his resume, he hired 3 FB coaches at NIU, Jerry Kill went 23-16 with a conference championship in 3 years. Dave Doeren went 23-4 in 2 seasons with 2 conference championships, Rod Carey is 31-11 with a conference championship. Who know's maybe its just the NIU program, but I'm certainly willing to give Compher a shot and see if he can find us a stud.

(12-06-2015 01:46 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:37 PM)k-vegasbuc Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:27 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 12:46 PM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:23 AM)PirateTreasureNC Wrote:  Monday is going to be one interesting day....I wonder what the fallout will be by the time 12:01 Am Tuesday hits....

What will happen. Nothing. Those of us that have sat in the stand for the last 36 games know that this team was not moving ahead and change was imminent. The football experts on this and that mess called the BYB have blinders on.

Except this wasn't strictly a football move. This was a move by an A.D. to try to get out of town before his new boss is hired. Compher knows that he will not have a job once Ballard's replacement is found, because the new person is going to bring their own A.D.

This was a strictly personal move by Compher to try to hire a coach for just one season, so that he can bail. If it succeeds then Compher will jump ship. If it fails then Compher is going to get fired anyway by his new boss. Anyway it goes ECU is going to be left holding the bag. The new AD is just going to turn around and fire the new coach that Compher hires anyway; if that coach can't get out of town first.


http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/Balla...14281.html

Nothing you said is fact. Compher may want to move to another school, if he does that's fine with me that means he's going to do his best to leave ECU in good shape. This is not some sort of conspiracy to torpedo the program before he gets out. And even with a new president that should have no impact on the AD. Again he's tied his success and failure to this hire, if he succeeds great, if he fails he will be fired and you'll get your wish.

The fact that our Chancellor is retiring has nothing to do with this, again the largest cause for this in my opinion is the arms race in our conference and the decline of our season tickets and attendance. He wants to vastly improve our stadium, he needs excitement to do it.

One more year of Ruffin would not have made a difference in anything that the school is trying to do, because Ruffin only had 2 years left on his deal; which lines up nicely with the arrival of the new Chancellor. Compher's move has actually put more debt on ECU, because the school will now have to pay off Ruff as well as a new coach. On top of all of that the new coach at ECU will either be desperate or dumb, because they have to know that Compher is going to be out of a job as soon as the new Chancellor is hired; which means that the new coach will be out of a job as soon as Compher's replacement is found. This was a terrible business and football move by Compher and he only did it so he can get out of town, before his new boss can fire him.

I here ya but the positive spin is this:

You have to spend money to make money. It's a risk reward analysis. We can wait & continue to 'under achieve' or we can be proactive and breathe some life into our increasingly impatient fan base that was losing interest (attendance down) due to an expectation that we are gonna lose most close games and also tail off down the stretch of seasons when it mattered the most.

The best thing about coach Ruff is that while he didn't win conference championships he did win state championships. He played here and he knows how much the fan base appreciates those ACC wins. If Ruff had won a conference championship but lost all his ACC games then the fan base would possibly be even more disgruntled with him then they were. That is why there is such an outcry for him now because he was owning the ACC regional rivals and he's one of our own. Him being an alum, his players truly understood how important those games matter historically to ECU fans and that legacy for Ruff is something that cannot be taken away from him.

However, from a national perspective, in consideration of the improvements across the board here in the AAC, it was imperative that we operate more as a business than like a family. We had to restore order and now make a power play in terms of spending some ca$h and grabbing a rising star in the coaching ranks (I think it should be Brohm). Now our next coach might not be as loyal but he will have every incentive to strive for greatness & it will immediately excite our fan base. Even if our new HC leaves after a few seasons we'll be in a better place than we are now. Even if JC gets out of dodge along with a new coach here in the coming years then that would mean that he likely fulfilled all of his goals here and accordingly ECU would be in a better place at that point. I'm okay with all of that. Making the program more solid for the future is the end game here and solid programs lose ADs & coaches all the time.

Again, Compher is sliding all of his chips to the center of the table here and we'll all find out how calculated of a risk this is. However, I would argue that this was a necessary and calculated move to restore excitement and order to a stalling program as well as setting a higher bar for ECU as an institution. Now all the good openings are gone and we can take our pick of some solid candidates. It's all about making a shrewd business move for ECU right now to ensure the long term sustainability of our program (a la Louisville model). Ruff being a casualty hurts virtually all Pirates, even the ones that wanted him gone. Conversely, as long as the money is well spent then ECU will reap the rewards of this investment in the not too distant future.

(12-06-2015 01:46 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:37 PM)k-vegasbuc Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:27 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 12:46 PM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:23 AM)PirateTreasureNC Wrote:  Monday is going to be one interesting day....I wonder what the fallout will be by the time 12:01 Am Tuesday hits....

What will happen. Nothing. Those of us that have sat in the stand for the last 36 games know that this team was not moving ahead and change was imminent. The football experts on this and that mess called the BYB have blinders on.

Except this wasn't strictly a football move. This was a move by an A.D. to try to get out of town before his new boss is hired. Compher knows that he will not have a job once Ballard's replacement is found, because the new person is going to bring their own A.D.

This was a strictly personal move by Compher to try to hire a coach for just one season, so that he can bail. If it succeeds then Compher will jump ship. If it fails then Compher is going to get fired anyway by his new boss. Anyway it goes ECU is going to be left holding the bag. The new AD is just going to turn around and fire the new coach that Compher hires anyway; if that coach can't get out of town first.


http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/Balla...14281.html

Nothing you said is fact. Compher may want to move to another school, if he does that's fine with me that means he's going to do his best to leave ECU in good shape. This is not some sort of conspiracy to torpedo the program before he gets out. And even with a new president that should have no impact on the AD. Again he's tied his success and failure to this hire, if he succeeds great, if he fails he will be fired and you'll get your wish.

The fact that our Chancellor is retiring has nothing to do with this, again the largest cause for this in my opinion is the arms race in our conference and the decline of our season tickets and attendance. He wants to vastly improve our stadium, he needs excitement to do it.

One more year of Ruffin would not have made a difference in anything that the school is trying to do, because Ruffin only had 2 years left on his deal; which lines up nicely with the arrival of the new Chancellor. Compher's move has actually put more debt on ECU, because the school will now have to pay off Ruff as well as a new coach. On top of all of that the new coach at ECU will either be desperate or dumb, because they have to know that Compher is going to be out of a job as soon as the new Chancellor is hired; which means that the new coach will be out of a job as soon as Compher's replacement is found. This was a terrible business and football move by Compher and he only did it so he can get out of town, before his new boss can fire him.

Btw, just take a look at Tulane.

Scott Cowen retired last year. http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/...es_he.html

The new President is Michael Fitt. http://tulane.edu/administration/president/

The new President hired a new athletic director. http://www.nola.com/tulane/index.ssf/201...t_man.html

The new Tulane A.D. is in the process of hiring a new football coach.

That is what is about to happen at ECU. Compher knows it and he is burning bridges to get out of there.

If he hires a bad coach he's not getting a job anywhere, so the idea you are spewing is insane. If he leaves us in financial ruin no one is going to hire him at a better program or even a worse one to be their AD. You don't get a better job by burning the boats at the place you are at. That makes no sense whatsoever.

(12-06-2015 02:38 PM)B easy Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:46 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:37 PM)k-vegasbuc Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:27 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 12:46 PM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  What will happen. Nothing. Those of us that have sat in the stand for the last 36 games know that this team was not moving ahead and change was imminent. The football experts on this and that mess called the BYB have blinders on.

Except this wasn't strictly a football move. This was a move by an A.D. to try to get out of town before his new boss is hired. Compher knows that he will not have a job once Ballard's replacement is found, because the new person is going to bring their own A.D.

This was a strictly personal move by Compher to try to hire a coach for just one season, so that he can bail. If it succeeds then Compher will jump ship. If it fails then Compher is going to get fired anyway by his new boss. Anyway it goes ECU is going to be left holding the bag. The new AD is just going to turn around and fire the new coach that Compher hires anyway; if that coach can't get out of town first.


http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/Balla...14281.html

Nothing you said is fact. Compher may want to move to another school, if he does that's fine with me that means he's going to do his best to leave ECU in good shape. This is not some sort of conspiracy to torpedo the program before he gets out. And even with a new president that should have no impact on the AD. Again he's tied his success and failure to this hire, if he succeeds great, if he fails he will be fired and you'll get your wish.

The fact that our Chancellor is retiring has nothing to do with this, again the largest cause for this in my opinion is the arms race in our conference and the decline of our season tickets and attendance. He wants to vastly improve our stadium, he needs excitement to do it.

One more year of Ruffin would not have made a difference in anything that the school is trying to do, because Ruffin only had 2 years left on his deal; which lines up nicely with the arrival of the new Chancellor. Compher's move has actually put more debt on ECU, because the school will now have to pay off Ruff as well as a new coach. On top of all of that the new coach at ECU will either be desperate or dumb, because they have to know that Compher is going to be out of a job as soon as the new Chancellor is hired; which means that the new coach will be out of a job as soon as Compher's replacement is found. This was a terrible business and football move by Compher and he only did it so he can get out of town, before his new boss can fire him.

I here ya but the positive spin is this:

You have to spend money to make money. It's a risk reward analysis. We can wait & continue to 'under achieve' or we can be proactive and breathe some life into our increasingly impatient fan base that was losing interest (attendance down) due to an expectation that we are gonna lose most close games and also tail off down the stretch of seasons when it mattered the most.

The best thing about coach Ruff is that while he didn't win conference championships he did win state championships. He played here and he knows how much the fan base appreciates those ACC wins. If Ruff had won a conference championship but lost all his ACC games then the fan base would possibly be even more disgruntled with him then they were. That is why there is such an outcry for him now because he was owning the ACC regional rivals and he's one of our own. Him being an alum, his players truly understood how important those games matter historically to ECU fans and that legacy for Ruff is something that cannot be taken away from him.

However, from a national perspective, in consideration of the improvements across the board here in the AAC, it was imperative that we operate more as a business than like a family. We had to restore order and now make a power play in terms of spending some ca$h and grabbing a rising star in the coaching ranks (I think it should be Brohm). Now our next coach might not be as loyal but he will have every incentive to strive for greatness & it will immediately excite our fan base. Even if our new HC leaves after a few seasons we'll be in a better place than we are now. Even if JC gets out of dodge along with a new coach here in the coming years then that would mean that he likely fulfilled all of his goals here and accordingly ECU would be in a better place at that point. I'm okay with all of that. Making the program more solid for the future is the end game here and solid programs lose ADs & coaches all the time.

Again, Compher is sliding all of his chips to the center of the table here and we'll all find out how calculated of a risk this is. However, I would argue that this was a necessary and calculated move to restore excitement and order to a stalling program as well as setting a higher bar for ECU as an institution. It's all about making a shrewd business move for ECU right now to ensure the long term sustainability of our program (a la Louisville). Ruff being a casualty hurts virtually all Pirates, even the ones that wanted him gone. Conversely, as long as the money is well spent then ECU will reap the rewards of this investment in the not too distant future.

Good post, I understand that Ruff was popular and emotionally some fans are invested, but if you take an objective look, which is what we pay Compher to do, then I think you can see the writing on the wall. Like I said earlier I think a lot of people (myself included) didn't like how Holland was unceremonially pushed out and unjustly have put the blame on Compher. I personally don't know Compher and the guy could be the biggest jerk in the world, but he hasn't done anything as AD so far that really upsets me. The only criticism i really did or do have is I think our marketing could be a little better and our fanbase is stagnated. I think he is seeing that as well and that's why he's making this move to try to jump start it and build momentum.

If he truly is a lame duck AD like some have suggested than the smart move would have been to just maintain the status quo and make no changes. Instead he put his job on the line with this move. That's why I don't buy the argument that he isn't invested in it. I think he knows full well the risk he is taking and probably knew that it would not be popular with a number of supporters.

(12-06-2015 02:40 PM)pirates4lyfe Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:46 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:37 PM)k-vegasbuc Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:27 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 12:46 PM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  What will happen. Nothing. Those of us that have sat in the stand for the last 36 games know that this team was not moving ahead and change was imminent. The football experts on this and that mess called the BYB have blinders on.

Except this wasn't strictly a football move. This was a move by an A.D. to try to get out of town before his new boss is hired. Compher knows that he will not have a job once Ballard's replacement is found, because the new person is going to bring their own A.D.

This was a strictly personal move by Compher to try to hire a coach for just one season, so that he can bail. If it succeeds then Compher will jump ship. If it fails then Compher is going to get fired anyway by his new boss. Anyway it goes ECU is going to be left holding the bag. The new AD is just going to turn around and fire the new coach that Compher hires anyway; if that coach can't get out of town first.


http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/Balla...14281.html

Nothing you said is fact. Compher may want to move to another school, if he does that's fine with me that means he's going to do his best to leave ECU in good shape. This is not some sort of conspiracy to torpedo the program before he gets out. And even with a new president that should have no impact on the AD. Again he's tied his success and failure to this hire, if he succeeds great, if he fails he will be fired and you'll get your wish.

The fact that our Chancellor is retiring has nothing to do with this, again the largest cause for this in my opinion is the arms race in our conference and the decline of our season tickets and attendance. He wants to vastly improve our stadium, he needs excitement to do it.

One more year of Ruffin would not have made a difference in anything that the school is trying to do, because Ruffin only had 2 years left on his deal; which lines up nicely with the arrival of the new Chancellor. Compher's move has actually put more debt on ECU, because the school will now have to pay off Ruff as well as a new coach. On top of all of that the new coach at ECU will either be desperate or dumb, because they have to know that Compher is going to be out of a job as soon as the new Chancellor is hired; which means that the new coach will be out of a job as soon as Compher's replacement is found. This was a terrible business and football move by Compher and he only did it so he can get out of town, before his new boss can fire him.

Btw, just take a look at Tulane.

Scott Cowen retired last year. http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/...es_he.html

The new President is Michael Fitt. http://tulane.edu/administration/president/

The new President hired a new athletic director. http://www.nola.com/tulane/index.ssf/201...t_man.html

The new Tulane A.D. is in the process of hiring a new football coach.

That is what is about to happen at ECU. Compher knows it and he is burning bridges to get out of there.

If he hires a bad coach he's not getting a job anywhere, so the idea you are spewing is insane. If he leaves us in financial ruin no one is going to hire him at a better program or even a worse one to be their AD. You don't get a better job by burning the boats at the place you are at. That makes no sense whatsoever.

You are clearly a person that doesn't believe that people have ulterior motives for their decisions. Compher is not dumb. He knows that Ruff has left a solid roster of players, including a 4* running back transfer from Tennessee that will be eligible next year. ECU quarterbacks will be healthy (including Benkurt who Phil Steele picked as a preseason 4th team all AAC this year); and ECU will have good depth at receiver and on defense. Compher knows that he just needs a guy for just one seasonso that he can put that on his resume. Who that is guy is remains to be seen; but what we do know is that the guy will be desperate or dumb, because he has to know that he doesn't have much time.

(12-06-2015 02:50 PM)k-vegasbuc Wrote:  Good post, I understand that Ruff was popular and emotionally some fans are invested, but if you take an objective look, which is what we pay Compher to do, then I think you can see the writing on the wall. Like I said earlier I think a lot of people (myself included) didn't like how Holland was unceremonially pushed out and unjustly have put the blame on Compher. I personally don't know Compher and the guy could be the biggest jerk in the world, but he hasn't done anything as AD so far that really upsets me. The only criticism i really did or do have is I think our marketing could be a little better and our fanbase is stagnated. I think he is seeing that as well and that's why he's making this move to try to jump start it and build momentum.

If he truly is a lame duck AD like some have suggested than the smart move would have been to just maintain the status quo and make no changes. Instead he put his job on the line with this move. That's why I don't buy the argument that he isn't invested in it. I think he knows full well the risk he is taking and probably knew that it would not be popular with a number of supporters.

Exactly. If he truly is a lame duck then just keeping Ruff and then moving on next year on the strength of a tremendous baseball hire and the still goodwill he has on his NIU hires would be the smart play. Firing an extremely popular alum doesn't help you get another job unless you hit a home run on the replacement. He bungles this up he will for sure be out and won't be getting another AD job anywhere. He's staking his entire career on the line with this move, and if you listened to that presser he gave he is well aware of it.

(12-06-2015 03:04 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  You are clearly a person that doesn't believe that people have ulterior motives for their decisions. Compher is not dumb. He knows that Ruff has left a solid roster of players, including a 4* running back transfer from Tennessee that will be eligible next year. ECU quarterbacks will be healthy (including Benkurt who Phil Steele picked as a preseason 4th team all AAC this year); and ECU will have good depth at receiver and on defense. Compher knows that he just needs a guy for just one seasonso that he can put that on his resume. Who that is guy is remains to be seen; but what we do know is that the guy will be desperate or dumb, because he has to know that he doesn't have much time.

Except it doesn't look bad for his future job prospects if Ruff were the guy that won big with that talent. Do you think schools hire AD's and take no look at the program and the relative health it's in at the time? He's already got good hires on his resume. He hired Doeren and he hired his replacement who did great things at NIU and he hit a home run with his baseball hire here. Now he's added fire a beloved alum coach with a resume that at worst didn't mandate you fire him. That looks real bad unless he hires the right guy. He's taking a massive risk because if this tanks he isn't moving on anywhere positive in his career. The much easier and safer play was just stick with the status quo and even if ECU does change with the new President he's got a fine resume that would get another good position. This move either makes him a star or effectively ends his career.

(12-06-2015 03:11 PM)pirates4lyfe Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 03:04 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  You are clearly a person that doesn't believe that people have ulterior motives for their decisions. Compher is not dumb. He knows that Ruff has left a solid roster of players, including a 4* running back transfer from Tennessee that will be eligible next year. ECU quarterbacks will be healthy (including Benkurt who Phil Steele picked as a preseason 4th team all AAC this year); and ECU will have good depth at receiver and on defense. Compher knows that he just needs a guy for just one seasonso that he can put that on his resume. Who that is guy is remains to be seen; but what we do know is that the guy will be desperate or dumb, because he has to know that he doesn't have much time.

Except it doesn't look bad for his future job prospects if Ruff were the guy that won big with that talent. Do you think schools hire AD's and take no look at the program and the relative health it's in at the time? He's already got good hires on his resume. He hired Doeren and he hired his replacement who did great things at NIU and he hit a home run with his baseball hire here. Now he's added fire a beloved alum coach with a resume that at worst didn't mandate you fire him. That looks real bad unless he hires the right guy. He's taking a massive risk because if this tanks he isn't moving on anywhere positive in his career. The much easier and safer play was just stick with the status quo and even if ECU does change with the new President he's got a fine resume that would get another good position. This move either makes him a star or effectively ends his career.

He did not hire Ruff. Terry Holland did.

Secondly, Compher can point to facility improvements at ECU; apparel deals (Adidas) and hiring a winning baseball coach. Those are things that he could point to in his future interviews, but he couldn't point to hiring a football coach; which is what most schools would be looking at.

Mind you now if results were really that important to Compher; then why is Lebo still employed, but McNeil is out of work. McNeil had better results than Lebo.

(12-06-2015 03:21 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 03:11 PM)pirates4lyfe Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 03:04 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  You are clearly a person that doesn't believe that people have ulterior motives for their decisions. Compher is not dumb. He knows that Ruff has left a solid roster of players, including a 4* running back transfer from Tennessee that will be eligible next year. ECU quarterbacks will be healthy (including Benkurt who Phil Steele picked as a preseason 4th team all AAC this year); and ECU will have good depth at receiver and on defense. Compher knows that he just needs a guy for just one seasonso that he can put that on his resume. Who that is guy is remains to be seen; but what we do know is that the guy will be desperate or dumb, because he has to know that he doesn't have much time.

Except it doesn't look bad for his future job prospects if Ruff were the guy that won big with that talent. Do you think schools hire AD's and take no look at the program and the relative health it's in at the time? He's already got good hires on his resume. He hired Doeren and he hired his replacement who did great things at NIU and he hit a home run with his baseball hire here. Now he's added fire a beloved alum coach with a resume that at worst didn't mandate you fire him. That looks real bad unless he hires the right guy. He's taking a massive risk because if this tanks he isn't moving on anywhere positive in his career. The much easier and safer play was just stick with the status quo and even if ECU does change with the new President he's got a fine resume that would get another good position. This move either makes him a star or effectively ends his career.

He did not hire Ruff. Terry Holland did.

Secondly, Compher can point to facility improvements at ECU; apparel deals (Adidas) and hiring a winning baseball coach. Those are things that he could point to in his future interviews, but he couldn't point to hiring a football coach; which is what most schools would be looking at.

Mind you now if results were really that important to Compher; then why is Lebo still employed, but McNeil is out of work. McNeil had better results than Lebo.

If Lebo doesn't improve significantly this year then I do think we need to look elsewhere.

However to answer your question, the reason football gets more attention is because it is our bell cow. Our basketball, through our own ineptitude, has never been depended on as a huge source of revenue or branding for our school. Football has been, we can afford not being good in basketball because we have never been good, even though we should strive to be and stop accepting mediocrity but that is another topic. We can not afford to be bad in football, we need 50,000 fans and big donors supporting us.

(12-06-2015 03:21 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 03:11 PM)pirates4lyfe Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 03:04 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  You are clearly a person that doesn't believe that people have ulterior motives for their decisions. Compher is not dumb. He knows that Ruff has left a solid roster of players, including a 4* running back transfer from Tennessee that will be eligible next year. ECU quarterbacks will be healthy (including Benkurt who Phil Steele picked as a preseason 4th team all AAC this year); and ECU will have good depth at receiver and on defense. Compher knows that he just needs a guy for just one seasonso that he can put that on his resume. Who that is guy is remains to be seen; but what we do know is that the guy will be desperate or dumb, because he has to know that he doesn't have much time.

Except it doesn't look bad for his future job prospects if Ruff were the guy that won big with that talent. Do you think schools hire AD's and take no look at the program and the relative health it's in at the time? He's already got good hires on his resume. He hired Doeren and he hired his replacement who did great things at NIU and he hit a home run with his baseball hire here. Now he's added fire a beloved alum coach with a resume that at worst didn't mandate you fire him. That looks real bad unless he hires the right guy. He's taking a massive risk because if this tanks he isn't moving on anywhere positive in his career. The much easier and safer play was just stick with the status quo and even if ECU does change with the new President he's got a fine resume that would get another good position. This move either makes him a star or effectively ends his career.

He did not hire Ruff. Terry Holland did.

Secondly, Compher can point to facility improvements at ECU; apparel deals (Adidas) and hiring a winning baseball coach. Those are things that he could point to in his future interviews, but he couldn't point to hiring a football coach; which is what most schools would be looking at.

Mind you now if results were really that important to Compher; then why is Lebo still employed, but McNeil is out of work. McNeil had better results than Lebo.

He could point to the coaches he hired at NIU for football, specifically one that took NIU to a BCS game. Now his entire career rides on this one hire. He keeps Ruff and gets let go he'd get another quality job. He screws this hire up the way it's been rumored some of the stuff was handled he's not getting a job anywhere. So this is a gigantic gamble to just do for a 1 year resume builder. He's smart enough to know that.

(12-06-2015 08:09 AM)pirates4lyfe Wrote:  The tank at the end of last season is what caused this. Everything that happened this year is explainable. Everyone talks about of course you saw a drop off losing a great QB, WR, and a superstar OC. The problem is with all those guys last year we gagged and lost 4 of the last 6 games in inexplicably stupid fashion. If that team had finished 11-1 or 10-2 like it absolutely should have no one holds it against Ruff the stuff that went down this year. Last year is what showed he would never get it done.

Last year and 2013

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(12-06-2015 10:57 AM)pirates4lyfe Wrote:  Don't care about any of that garbage or this little feud between the old guard ECU administrators and the new people Compher brought over. Really I don't give a crap about it. The truth is Ruff was never going to win a championship at ECU. Find the guy who will. If Compher does all that junk doesn't matter, and if he doesn't all that junk doesn't matter because he'll be fired next.

Well said. People need to get past that bullshite and accept the painful truth.

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(12-06-2015 03:04 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 02:40 PM)pirates4lyfe Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:46 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:37 PM)k-vegasbuc Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 01:27 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  Except this wasn't strictly a football move. This was a move by an A.D. to try to get out of town before his new boss is hired. Compher knows that he will not have a job once Ballard's replacement is found, because the new person is going to bring their own A.D.

This was a strictly personal move by Compher to try to hire a coach for just one season, so that he can bail. If it succeeds then Compher will jump ship. If it fails then Compher is going to get fired anyway by his new boss. Anyway it goes ECU is going to be left holding the bag. The new AD is just going to turn around and fire the new coach that Compher hires anyway; if that coach can't get out of town first.


http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/Balla...14281.html

Nothing you said is fact. Compher may want to move to another school, if he does that's fine with me that means he's going to do his best to leave ECU in good shape. This is not some sort of conspiracy to torpedo the program before he gets out. And even with a new president that should have no impact on the AD. Again he's tied his success and failure to this hire, if he succeeds great, if he fails he will be fired and you'll get your wish.

The fact that our Chancellor is retiring has nothing to do with this, again the largest cause for this in my opinion is the arms race in our conference and the decline of our season tickets and attendance. He wants to vastly improve our stadium, he needs excitement to do it.

One more year of Ruffin would not have made a difference in anything that the school is trying to do, because Ruffin only had 2 years left on his deal; which lines up nicely with the arrival of the new Chancellor. Compher's move has actually put more debt on ECU, because the school will now have to pay off Ruff as well as a new coach. On top of all of that the new coach at ECU will either be desperate or dumb, because they have to know that Compher is going to be out of a job as soon as the new Chancellor is hired; which means that the new coach will be out of a job as soon as Compher's replacement is found. This was a terrible business and football move by Compher and he only did it so he can get out of town, before his new boss can fire him.

Btw, just take a look at Tulane.

Scott Cowen retired last year. http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/...es_he.html

The new President is Michael Fitt. http://tulane.edu/administration/president/

The new President hired a new athletic director. http://www.nola.com/tulane/index.ssf/201...t_man.html

The new Tulane A.D. is in the process of hiring a new football coach.

That is what is about to happen at ECU. Compher knows it and he is burning bridges to get out of there.

If he hires a bad coach he's not getting a job anywhere, so the idea you are spewing is insane. If he leaves us in financial ruin no one is going to hire him at a better program or even a worse one to be their AD. You don't get a better job by burning the boats at the place you are at. That makes no sense whatsoever.

You are clearly a person that doesn't believe in conspiracy theories.

Fify

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(12-06-2015 09:29 PM)blunderbuss Wrote:  

(12-06-2015 10:57 AM)pirates4lyfe Wrote:  Don't care about any of that garbage or this little feud between the old guard ECU administrators and the new people Compher brought over. Really I don't give a crap about it. The truth is Ruff was never going to win a championship at ECU. Find the guy who will. If Compher does all that junk doesn't matter, and if he doesn't all that junk doesn't matter because he'll be fired next.

Well said. People need to get past that bullshite and accept the painful truth.

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Yep. I desperately wanted Ruff to be the guy who could win championships at ECU, but it was just never gonna happen. He recruited talent at a high enough level to do it, but his record in close games was abysmal and ECU's never gonna have so much talent that they can just win 10-11 games on that. There's gonna be 3 to 4 games every year that are evenly matched and will come down to little things like coaching decisions, a costly penalty, clock management, etc and Ruff and company far more times than not found ways to mess that stuff up. In the last 2 seasons alone ECU has lost 6 games that they had a less than a TD lead or were tied late in the 4th quarter. The only game in that time period they won like that was VT last year and they blew a 21-0 lead to let that game get tied late. A good coach is gonna find a way to win at least half the games like that, an elite one finds a way to win a majority of them. A bad coach finds a way to lose 6 of 7.