View from the East Thursday, August 30, 2012 By Al Myatt

A series with forgotten significance

By Al Myatt
©2012 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.

College football is changing. This will be the last season for Conference USA in its present configuration. The end is also in sight for the Bowl Championship Series.

C-USA will lose Central Florida, Houston, Memphis and Southern Methodist to the Big East Conference after the current school year. The league will add Charlotte, Florida International, Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Old Dominion and Texas-San Antonio.

The BCS is apparently giving way to a four-team playoff that will be in place from 2014 to 2025.

East Carolina opens this era-closing season in C-USA against Appalachian State, an opponent which certainly provides the Pirates with some historical perspective.

The two programs at opposite ends of the state have competed within a conference framework and possibly could do so again.

The institutions first met in football in 1932 as Appalachian State Teachers College and East Carolina Teachers College. ECTC absorbed a 21-0 loss in Boone to finish its maiden season 0-5.

Appalachian won the first 10 meetings in the series, which it still leads, 19-11. East Carolina's first win didn't come until 1952, 20 years after the initial clash.

When both programs were in the Southern Conference, their matchups often had championship implications. Before winning C-USA in 2008 and 2009, the Pirates' last conference title was the Southern crown in 1976.

That championship was sealed in a late November showdown with Appalachian State in Greenville, which ECU won convincingly, 35-7.

ECU made a university-defining decision to become a major college independent in football after the 1976 season.

The Pirates and the Mountaineers kept the series going for several years in the late 1970s when ECU had a determined strong safety out of Lumberton named Ruffin McNeill. The Pirates beat ASU every year Ruff was in the program from 1976 to 1979.

While the Pirates refocused on stepping up to the big time, ASU became the dominant force in ECU's old league. The Mountaineers have won or shared 10 Southern Conference championships going back to 1986. ASU won three straight national titles (Division I-AA and later Football Championship Subdivision) from 2005 to 2007.

"They have a lot of tradition, pride and passion about their program," McNeill said this week.

Ruff knows that first hand. McNeill became a part of ASU's success as linebackers coach from 1989 to 1991 and as defensive coordinator from 1993 to 1996.

"I'll always be indebted to Ruffin," said Appalachian State coach Jerry Moore, who will start his 24th season with the Mountaineers at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. "Ruffin made a huge difference in our football program. ... Each time he left, I was disappointed. I've got great respect for him as a man and, obviously, as a coach."

McNeill left Boone to return to his alma mater as defensive line coach in 1992 on Steve Logan's first staff.

Moore and McNeill have the dual distinction of having coached at Texas Tech. Moore was head coach of the Red Raiders from 1981 to 1985, going 16-37-2. He has found his niche at Appalachian, compiling a mark of 207-83. McNeill won his only game as head coach at Texas Tech when he filled in for Mike Leach in the Alamo Bowl at the conclusion of the 2009 season.

"I learned a lot under Coach (Moore)," McNeill said. "Especially, how to handle situations, how to stay calm and poised when things may be going in a little bit of disarray. We were very successful at staying the course."

McNeill helped the Mountaineers to a Southern Conference title in 1991.

"Coach (Moore) was one of the first coaches I worked for who was not a micro-manager," McNeill said. "He let you coach. He let you become a coach without having parameters around you. He let you experiment individually and with groups. I appreciate that about Coach. Coach meant a lot to Erlene (wife) and my family. Olivia, my youngest, was born in Boone. Coach Moore was right there the first day she was born."

Olivia McNeill is student teaching at present and is scheduled to graduate from Appalachian State in December.

ECU associate head coach John Wiley was on the Mountaineers staff in 1989-1990 and from 1993 to 2009 when he left to join McNeill's staff in Greenville. ECU recruiting coordinator and receivers coach Donnie Kirkpatrick was at Appalachian State from 1985 to 1988, helping the program to its first SoCon title in 1986.

Mountaineers offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford played at ECU from 1995-98, making a successful transition from the defensive front to the offensive line before spending seven seasons in the NFL. Ledford was a graduate assistant at ECU during the C-USA championship seasons of 2008 and 2009.

Wiley and Ledford will be on different sidelines than in 2009 when ECU went out to a 24-0 lead and held on to top Appalachian State 29-24 in the season opener in Greenville.

The 2009 game marked the first time the Pirates had played ASU since McNeill's senior year in 1979. ECU athletic director Terry Holland got the Mountaineers on the schedule in 2009 so that a home game with N.C. State could be moved to the following season when the enclosure of the East end of the stadium would be complete. That postponed clash with the Wolfpack ended with Damon Magazu's overtime interception in front of the new seating to preserve a 33-27 Pirates win.

Holland thought the impromptu revision that brought ASU back on the schedule turned out well and that led to the matchup on Saturday.

"The revival of the East Carolina-Appalachian State football rivalry has already produced one exciting game," Holland said. "I know both institutions are looking forward to this second chapter with great anticipation."

It's not a secret that both Holland and McNeill are on record as favoring consideration of the Mountaineers for membership in C-USA — and that Appalachian State is looking to move up to the Football Bowl Subdivision.

The once meaningful rivalry that was dormant for 30 years despite its personnel connections could re-emerge as a crucial contest in a conference championship.

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PAGE UPDATED 08/30/12 01:41 AM.