I'm thankful to see the Pirates finally moving forward to be more competitive. Not only for us, but for the prestige of the American Conference.
Baseball and basketball are now in good hands with Coach Godwin and Coach Dooley. Of course we have a new football coach, Mike Houston. Houston is bringing with him o-line coach Steve Shankweiler, who served 3 stretches at ECU under Art Baker, Bill Lewis, Steve Logan and Skip Holtz. He is also bringing offensive coordinator Donnie Kirkpatrick, who served under Skip Holtz and Ruffin McNeil, as well as bringing other members of his JMU staff.
The troubled remains of Compher's tenure have been cleared away. We have a new AD and Dave Hart, who negotiated Dooley's hire and helped with the Coach Houston hire, appears to be ready to stay on in some capacity. The $60 million stadium expansion project will be ready in time for the 2019 season. This includes facilities upgrades for players which have already been finished.
More good news is $20 million has been transferred from other ECU accounts to the athletics department. This will serve to pay off debt and fund "facility improvements including a long-sought training table."
http://www.reflector.com/ECU/2018/12/06/...-debt.html
Board of Trustees Chairman Kieran Shanahan says an indoor practice facility is being considered.
http://www.reflector.com/ECU/2018/12/03/Hart.html
Reports indicate donations to the Pirate Club, which helps fund athletic scholarships, are up, as well as fans ready to buy season tickets. This will go a long way toward relieving the financial problems of the last couple of years.
The view from the East Carolina horizon is finally seeing some light. It's time to heal the fractured ECU fan base. It's a good day to be a Pirate. Here's wishing the best to everyone in the coming year.
Go Pirates!
Go American!
Mike
Do you live in Oki full time or are you stationed there?
Until you guys do anything...ANYTHING in fb or men's hoops, your new name is 'ez-u'
Glad to see ECU righting the ship.
There is no way ECU can not be competitive in Football. Heck, even years ago when in CUSA, ECU fan base was always regarded as "BIG" and "PASSIONATE".
I seriously do not know what happened to ECU recent years. But I hope ECU to be the best football program in the state of North Carolina.
Thought this thread was about a pirate ship.
Disappointing.
(12-06-2018 03:54 PM)200yrs2late Wrote: [ -> ]Do you live in Oki full time or are you stationed there?
Yes, but if you're thinking Okinawa, no. I'm in NC.
(12-06-2018 08:11 PM)mikeinoki Wrote: [ -> ] (12-06-2018 03:54 PM)200yrs2late Wrote: [ -> ]Do you live in Oki full time or are you stationed there?
Yes, but if you're thinking Okinawa, no. I'm in NC.
Yep, was thinking Okinawa. Beautiful place and amazing food.
(12-06-2018 06:36 PM)AGuyIn_Water Wrote: [ -> ]Glad to see ECU righting the ship.
There is no way ECU can not be competitive in Football. Heck, even years ago when in CUSA, ECU fan base was always regarded as "BIG" and "PASSIONATE".
I seriously do not know what happened to ECU recent years. But I hope ECU to be the best football program in the state of North Carolina.
We have a cycle...
- Lose good coach to a more high profile program.
- Hire good coach to replace him. Have success for a few years.
- Get too big for our britches, fire good coach because we think we are big time and everyone wants to coach here.
- Hire crappiest coach available. Suck for a few years.
- Hire good coach to replace crappy coach. Refocus, make some improvement, have some success.
Hopefully we’ll stop doing this to ourselves and learn to be happy with regular winning seasons, an occasional bad season, and occasionally catching lightning in a bottle.
(12-06-2018 08:43 PM)200yrs2late Wrote: [ -> ] (12-06-2018 08:11 PM)mikeinoki Wrote: [ -> ] (12-06-2018 03:54 PM)200yrs2late Wrote: [ -> ]Do you live in Oki full time or are you stationed there?
Yes, but if you're thinking Okinawa, no. I'm in NC.
Yep, was thinking Okinawa. Beautiful place and amazing food.
Home of Miagee-doh Karate
(12-06-2018 06:01 PM)Bearcats#1 Wrote: [ -> ]Until you guys do anything...ANYTHING in fb or men's hoops, your new name is 'ez-u'
totally unnecessary comment........if you will check past history in football you will see how eCu dominated overall record until recently........also do you guys play baseball?
(12-06-2018 08:55 PM)Bearcats#1 Wrote: [ -> ] (12-06-2018 08:43 PM)200yrs2late Wrote: [ -> ] (12-06-2018 08:11 PM)mikeinoki Wrote: [ -> ] (12-06-2018 03:54 PM)200yrs2late Wrote: [ -> ]Do you live in Oki full time or are you stationed there?
Yes, but if you're thinking Okinawa, no. I'm in NC.
Yep, was thinking Okinawa. Beautiful place and amazing food.
Home of Miagee-doh Karate
Show more respect for The Karate Kid than that
Is the bit about Shank and Kirkpatrick confirmed? Great if true.
(12-06-2018 10:52 PM)Chappy Wrote: [ -> ]Is the big about Shank and Kirkpatrick confirmed? Great if true.
The report now is that all but 2 of Houstons staff at JMU are heading to the Ville...including the Strength and conditioning coach to replace Connors.
(12-06-2018 08:54 PM)Lethemeul Wrote: [ -> ] (12-06-2018 06:36 PM)AGuyIn_Water Wrote: [ -> ]Glad to see ECU righting the ship.
There is no way ECU can not be competitive in Football. Heck, even years ago when in CUSA, ECU fan base was always regarded as "BIG" and "PASSIONATE".
I seriously do not know what happened to ECU recent years. But I hope ECU to be the best football program in the state of North Carolina.
We have a cycle...
- Lose good coach to a more high profile program.
- Hire good coach to replace him. Have success for a few years.
- Get too big for our britches, fire good coach because we think we are big time and everyone wants to coach here.
- Hire crappiest coach available. Suck for a few years.
- Hire good coach to replace crappy coach. Refocus, make some improvement, have some success.
Hopefully we’ll stop doing this to ourselves and learn to be happy with regular winning seasons, an occasional bad season, and occasionally catching lightning in a bottle.
You left off worst AD of all time.
(12-06-2018 10:56 PM)Fo Shizzle Wrote: [ -> ] (12-06-2018 10:52 PM)Chappy Wrote: [ -> ]Is the big about Shank and Kirkpatrick confirmed? Great if true.
The report now is that all but 2 of Houstons staff at JMU are heading to the Ville...including the Strength and conditioning coach to replace Connors.
From the JMU beat writer:
Sources: Most Of Houston's Staff To ECU
Quote:On Thursday, sources told the Daily News-Record the Dukes are losing all but two assistant coaches to East Carolina.
According to sources, running backs coach De’Rail Sims, wide receivers coach Drew Dudzik, inside receivers and tight ends coach Fontel Mines, defensive line coach Jeff Hanson, special teams coordinator Roy Tesh, strength coach John Williams and director of football operations Dale Steele will join coach Mike Houston, defensive coordinator Bob Trott and offensive coordinator Donnie Kirkpatrick at East Carolina.
End Zone U, I like it. Thanks B1!
(12-07-2018 03:06 PM)mikeinoki Wrote: [ -> ] (12-06-2018 10:56 PM)Fo Shizzle Wrote: [ -> ] (12-06-2018 10:52 PM)Chappy Wrote: [ -> ]Is the big about Shank and Kirkpatrick confirmed? Great if true.
The report now is that all but 2 of Houstons staff at JMU are heading to the Ville...including the Strength and conditioning coach to replace Connors.
From the JMU beat writer:
Sources: Most Of Houston's Staff To ECU
Quote:On Thursday, sources told the Daily News-Record the Dukes are losing all but two assistant coaches to East Carolina.
According to sources, running backs coach De’Rail Sims, wide receivers coach Drew Dudzik, inside receivers and tight ends coach Fontel Mines, defensive line coach Jeff Hanson, special teams coordinator Roy Tesh, strength coach John Williams and director of football operations Dale Steele will join coach Mike Houston, defensive coordinator Bob Trott and offensive coordinator Donnie Kirkpatrick at East Carolina.
Only spot left is LB coach. Coach Blackwell was co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at South Florida back in '09. Wish we'd offer and he'd take that same position with ECU to keep some continuity and give him a chance to ultimately take over the DC position once again when Trott retires. He is a Pirate and he took a chance on us when we were down. Even though we were far from good he did make substantial improvements with our D this past year.
Gotta give ECU props for not maintaining the status quo and getting rid of coaches/admins that aren't working. Pirates' current line-up of coaches looks promising.
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