Athletic director Jon Gilbert recently expressed his confidence in basketball coach Mike Schwartz with a 1-year contract extension through the 2027-28 season.

The move followed East Carolina’s first winning season since 2012-13 when the Pirates were 23-12 and won the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

ECU went 19-14 in 2024-25 after losing a core of talent that included Brandon Johnson, Ezra Ausar and Bobby Pettiford.

Schwartz quickly regrouped with new faces from noted programs that included C.J. Walker from Central Florida and Jordan Riley from Temple. Cam Hayes was retained after stops at N.C. State and LSU.

A 1-year contract extension is suitable in the current landscape of college athletics considering the degree of roster turnover that typically takes place on an annual basis.

It used to be a recruiting tool to leverage against a program when a coach was getting toward the end of a contract and recruits were thinking in terms of playing a full career at one institution.

Schwartz is under contract for three more seasons, a virtual eternity given the lack of loyalty and tendency toward hopping campuses in the college game today.

R.J. Felton is a rarity — a star who stayed at the school that initially signed him until gradiation. Ditto for running back Rahjai Harris in football.

Appropriately, Harris was named Male Athlete of the Year and Felton took home the Mr. Pirate honor at the recent Goldspy awards sponsored by the Student Athlete Advisory Committee for the 12th year.

Felton averaged a team-high 18.8 points as a senior. Walker scored at a 16.7 rate. Hayes added 9.2 per game. That trio produced  almost 59 percent of ECU’s 75.8 points per contest.

Their exit was good reason to be a little downcast on Senior Day.

But as stars depart, opportunities develop for expanded roles for returning players.

After hitting 14.5 points per game, Riley is the top scorer who will be back for ECU. He is also the top returning rebounder (6.0). Look for Riley to expand his role.

Jayshayne Woodard (5.8 points, 4.1 rebounds) also may increase his productivity.

The Pirates have had some reserve bigs get into the portal, 6-11 Cyr Malonga and 6-10 Callum Richard. Malonga enlisted with New Mexico, which was 17-15 overall last season and 10-8 in Conference USA.

In terms of size, ECU has more than compensated for the departures. The Pirates are bringing in the well-traveled Giovanni Emejuro, a towering 6-11. He played last year at George Mason, averaging 16.2 minutes, 6.2 points and 4.0 rebounds while setting a school record for field goal percentage (67.4 percent).

Emejuro was born in Italy to Nigerian parents. He prepped at Charnwood College in England. His USA tour has included Sam Houston State, Sienna, GMU and ECU.

Eli DeLaurier, who stands 6-10, had offers from Mississippi State, Old Dominion, Radford, Texas A&M, Virginia Tech and West Virginia in 2022 before enrolling at Providence shortly after Kim English became coach of the Friars from George Mason.

DeLaurier played sparingly in 2023-24 because of an injury. He saw limited action in 2024-25. He played on the prep level at the Miller School in Charlottesville.

The Pirates received a commitment from 6-10 Vito Perkovic on Friday after making an offer on April 29. He pledged the day of a campus visit. He is expected to join the program this summer and be available next season.

Perkovic averaged 11.7 points and 5.7 rebounds during his senior season at Hamilton Heights Christian Academy in Chattanooga while hitting 43 percent from the floor and 37 percent from beyond the arc. He also had offers from Stetson and Tennessee Tech.

ECU also has help on the way in the backcourt and on the perimeter.

Combo guard Isaiah Mbeng played in all 32 games for William & Mary (17-15, 11-7 Coastal Athletic Association) and averaged 5.7 points with 3.4 assists in 19.9 minutes per game. He entered the portal on March 26 and committed to ECU on April 30.

The Pirates signed 3-star guard Daithi Quinn, a 6-4 small forward from Tabor Academy in Marion, MA, on Nov. 13. He had received offers from Albany, Binghamton, Bryant, Chattanooga, Delaware, Fairfield, Fordham, George Mason, Holy Cross, Iona, Maryland-Baltimore County, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey Tech, Northeastern, Samford, Sienna, Towson, Utah State, Vermont and William & Mary.

The athletic Quinn won state championships in the triple jump and javelin. He is capable of scoring in a variety of ways.

ECU got a commitment from 6-foot point guard Corey Caulker of Eastern Florida State College on April 21 after his visit on April 18. He averaged 13.4 points in 31.7 minutes for a 23-7 team.

Transient personnel are prevalent and will impact the American Athletic Conference. P.J. Haggerty, the league’s player of the year, has departed reigning champion Memphis with a $4 million price tag and could wind up at N.C. State.

Yaxel Lendeborg has left Alabama-Birmingham for Michigan after averaging 17.7 points and 11.4 rebounds for the Blazers.

The talent is on the move as Schwartz and staff look to claim their share.

After some success last season, the challenge is to maintain it. Basketball at ECU has been sandwiched between Pirate Nation’s devotion to football and the traditional success of baseball.

Consistency in hoops has been elusive, but the record last year, including a best-ever 10-8 in the AAC — albeit without Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston — makes another successful rebuild seem possible.