East Carolina football coach Blake Harrell paid respect to Harold Robinson at the outset of Harrell’s Monday news conference.

Robinson passed away Saturday in his hometown of Washington at the age of 76. He was a successful coach at Williamston, winning NCHSAA 1-A championships in 1995 and 1999. He had an overall record of 231-94 (.711) with the Tigers. He was inducted into the NCHSAA Hall of Fame in 2022.

Robinson graduated from East Carolina in 1972 and later received advanced degrees from ECU as well.

He worked as Director of High School Relations for football coaches John Thompson, Skip Holtz and Ruffin McNeill at ECU.

‘We lost a really good man, really good coach and a really good Pirate this past weekend,” Harrell said. ‘He had a great influence on high school football in the region. A true Pirate.  … Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family as they go through this season of loss.

“Just can’t say enough good things about what he has meant to Pirate Nation over the years.”

The family will receiver friends on Thursday, Oct. 16, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Paul Funeral Home in Washington.

A memorial service is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 17, at 11 a.m. at First Christian Church in Washington.

Yesavage, yes sir!

Harrell extended congratulations to Toronto rookie right-hander Trey Yesavage on his performance Sunday in the playoffs against the New York Yankees.

Yesavage, an All American for the Pirates, started and went five and one-third innings.  He allowed no hits and one walk with 11 strikeouts in a 13-7 win as the Blue Jays took a 2-0 series lead.

“I want to talk about another Pirate, Trey Savage,” Harrell said “Big day for the Blue Jays yesterday and for Trey. Excited for him.”

Harrell also had kudos for cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian, a former Pirate, who had a sack and a pass deflection for visiting Denver in a 21-17 comeback upset of defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia on Sunday.

“We talked a little bit about Ja’Quan McMillian at practice today,” Harrell said. “Trey is a perfect example of exactly what Ja’Quan is, just having an elite mindset and really preparing for the moment. … When his moment came yesterday, he performed on the biggest stage there is.

“Just a shout out to him, representing his team and also Pirate Nation in such a manner.”

Two weeks between games

The Pirates continue American Conference play on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. (ESPN) at Tulane.

“The bye week is a little bit unusual,” Harrell said. “We go back to thinking about Army (28-6 ECU win at home on Sept. 25). Usually, I’m up here talking about the past game and what happened on Saturday and now it’s 11 days removed.”

The win over the Black Knights put the Pirates at 3-2 overall and 1-0 in the American.

Break allows recruiting

The Pirates reduced the practice schedule last week and that permitted some time for recruiting.

“I actually got out in Pitt County a little bit, was over at Conley High School and saw some pretty good football over there,” Harrell said.  “I was over at Rose High School and saw South Central there as well. That was good to get out in the area and see some good football.

“While I was over at Rose, they honored the 50th anniversary of the first state championship team at Rose High School. I saw those guys out there that set the foundation for Rose High School and the culture way back then and what’s carried on to today.

“That was pretty cool just to see a little football in the area.”

Thoughts on Army

Harrell shared some thoughts on what worked in the league opener.

“Going back to Army, we’re always looking out the windshield, not in the rear view, but it was a really good win,” Harrell said. “A good way to start off the conference. …

“We came out and started fast. First three drives, put up seven points (each). Anthony (Smith) and Katin (Houser) connected down the field. Katin got in the end zone there and then Anthony got in the end zone as well.

“That’s the way you want to start, especially against an option team is to get the lead. I thought we converted well on third down (7 for 12), and got the rushing attack going late in the game.

“Defensively, that’s probably as good of a performance as I’ve seen against an option team in a long time. Just really proud of those guys.

“Special teams added a score right there at the end with Kyler Pearson. But as I tell our guys, you can take confidence from the beginning of the year and I think if you look at the stats right now, we’re doing a lot of things well, but we’ve got to focus on the things we’re not doing well and kind of get them (fixed).”

Looking to Thursday night

What has been accomplished thus far has little bearing going forward.

“We can’t take one play from the beginning of the year into this week versus Tulane,” Harrell said. “So our focus has been on Tulane.

“A lot of times in a bye week you have a time to reflect and kind of look at yourself, what you did for a couple of days. But pretty quickly we got started on our preparation for Tulane. It will be 14 days coming in this Thursday since we last played, a little less for them, I think 12 because they played on a Saturday. We played on a Thursday.

“They’re a 4-1 football team. They’re 1-0 in the conference. I don’t think we’ve ever beaten them at Yulman Stadium. … (Coach Jon) Sumrall is doing a great job there. He’s like the fifth highest winning percentage coach in college football right now.

“I think his conference record since he joined the Americans is 11-2.

“Last year, in 2024, they played for the American Conference championship as well as Army.

“Offensively, they are a pro style, shift, motion, move around. They’ll do a little bit of huddling on offense. Joe Craddock has been his offense coordinator at Tulane as well as at Troy.

“On the defensive side of the ball, the defensive coordinator is Greg Gasparato. You’ll see a similar style of defense to what you saw from Army. He is a Nate Woody (Army defensive coordinator) disciple. I actually coached against him when we were in the Southern Conference. He was at Wofford and I was at The Citadel.

“Special teams is one of the strong suits as well. They’ve got a really good kicker, a really good punter and a return guy,”

Green Wave offense

Harrell, a former defensive coordinator, sized up Tulane’s attack.

“Offensively, they’re averaging 26 points and over 400 yards a game. The bulk of that is coming on the ground, over 200 yards a game rushing. Jake Retzlaff is the quarterback. He transferred from BYU. We thought in the offseason, we’d see him when we played BYU a couple of weeks ago.

“He’s actually seventh nationally in rushing touchdowns with seven. You think of quarterbacks, you think of the arms. He can certainly spin it. Very strong arm there. He does a good job putting the ball in small windows, tight spaces. But where I really see him hurt teams, especially Duke, I think he had four rushing touchdowns in that game, is on the ground.

“Whether it’s scrambling or quarterback design run game, I think he’s a competitor and does a really good job. I think if you think about rushing teams, rushing offenses, you think about their O line. That right guard, Shadre Hurst, kid from Cartersville (GA), it starts with him. He’s a preseason all American, does a really good job, got some really nice feet in there.”