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FOOTBALL |
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Montgomery taking the helm |
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East Carolina's
nine-day search for a football coach officially came to an end on Sunday
with an announcement from ECU athletic director Jeff Compher that Duke
offensive coordinator Scottie Montgomery will assume command of the the
Pirates effective Jan. 1.
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More... |
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BASKETBALL |
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Pirates top N.C. A&T |
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GREENVILLE �
B.J. Tyson scored 21 points as East
Carolina returned from an exam break
to defeat North Carolina A&T 71-60
on Sunday afternoon before a crowd
of 4,151 in Williams Arena at Minges
Coliseum. The Aggies (4-8) came in
with a four-game winning streak
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More... |
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Next: ECU vs.
UNCW | Wed., 7 pm | TV: ESPN3 |
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FOOTBALL |
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Montgomery emerges at 11th hour |
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Multiple reports
indicate that East Carolina's search
for a football coach has concluded
with an offer to Duke offensive
coordinator and quarterbacks coach
Scott Montgomery. ECU's board of
trustees has scheduled an unusual
Sunday afternoon meeting, which will
presumably consider approving terms
of employment. ...
More... |
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FOOTBALL |
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Ruff lands in
Charlottesville |
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Little
more than a week after his stunning
ouster as East Carolina's head
football coach, Ruffin McNeill has
found his next calling. McNeill
headed a list of eight assistants
added to the staff of newly-named
Virginia head coach Bronco
Mendenhall on Saturday.
McNeill
will
serve as assistant head coach and
inside linebackers coach
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FOOTBALL |
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Has Pirates' ship sailed? |
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 It's
been a week since Ruffin McNeill was
fired as football coach at East
Carolina. Athletic director Jeff
Compher said he made the decision
days before the announcement was
publicized so he actually had some
lead time to do preparation for
finding a replacement. ...
More from Al Myatt... |
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MULTIMEDIA |
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Audio: The Brian
Bailey Show |
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 The
Brian Bailey Show airs on Pirate
Radio 1250 on Mondays at 6:30 p.m.
Brian's guests this week
 were
Jeff Gravley, Sammy Batten, Todd
Gibson and Rose High School football
coach David Wojtecki:
Replay
show... |
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BASKETBALL |
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ECU falls to Barry, Charleston |
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CHARLESTON, SC � East Carolina
outscored host College of Charleston
52-40 in the second half but it was
too little, too late, in a 77-73
loss to the Cougars on Monday night.
ECU trailed by 18 points early in
the second half but pulled within
71-69 on a 3-pointer by B.J. Tyson
with 1:05 to go.
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More... |
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Next: ECU vs. NC
A&T | Sunday, 2 pm | ESPN3 |
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FOOTBALL |
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Stunning new era at hand |
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 As
head football coach at his alma
mater, Ruffin McNeill avoided
treating the position as though he
were Chief Executive Officer of a
business. McNeill favored a family
model. He was daddy. The players
were his sons. The assistant coaches
and coordinators were uncles.
McNeill's abrupt dismissal Friday after an injury-plagued 5-7 season was
a reminder that big-time college athletics is indeed a business. ...
More from Al Myatt... |
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Pictured:
Ruffin McNeill acknowledges the
Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium crowd before what
would turn out to be the East Carolina
alum's final homecoming game as head coach
of the Pirates,
a 30-17 win over
Tulsa on Oct. 17. (W.A. Myatt
photo) |
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By
Brian Bailey
�2015 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
VIEW MOBILE
ALPHA VERSION OF THIS PAGE
East Carolina�s new football coach had
to first sell himself to Pirate athletic director Jeff Compher.
He was the last to interview.
He was the last man standing.
He then went about his sales pitch to Pirate Nation.
He certainly succeeded with both.
Scottie Montgomery was introduced as East Carolina�s 21st football coach
on Monday morning. [Select
press conference audio clip in a new window...]
It wasn�t the emotional introduction that we saw from Ruffin McNeill six
years ago. It was business-like in nature, with hints of emotion from
time to time.
I�ve been fortunate enough to cover introductory ECU football press
conferences for Art Baker, Bill Lewis, Steve Logan, John Thompson, Skip
Holtz, Ruffin McNeill and now �Coach Mo.�
That�s exactly one-third of the history of Pirate football. I consider
it an honor. I have had the chance to work with some great men.
Coach Montgomery went right to work in his first press conference,
working to repair the fractured state of the Pirate Nation. He knew of
former head coach Ruffin McNeill�s popularity.
I came away thinking that all the new coach wants is a chance. I believe
most will give him that chance.
Compher was first to give him a chance.
�He was the last interview I had face-to-face,� said Compher. �We had
three that were final interview candidates. And as he told me his story
and expressed his vision, I knew that he was just going to be a great
fit. And we connected right away.�
Montgomery comes to East Carolina after a phone call to ECU from Duke
head coach David Cutcliffe. Cutcliffe tweeted out Monday that East
Carolina was getting a special coach.
I had the chance to sit down, one on one, with the new coach and picked
his brain on football x�s and o�s.
On offense, Coach Montgomery talked about the custom approach.
�We really have I think at Duke over the years done a good job of
fitting what we have,� said Montgomery. �We have to recruit a little bit
differently than a lot of people across the country so we had to build
our system to kind of fit multiple types of quarterbacks. We want to
throw to score and we want to run it to win, plain and simple.�
On defense the new coach calls it the "KILL" theory.
�KILL, keep it likeable and learnable,� he explained. �We are going to
be aggressive. There will not be a situation where we are just sitting
back. Like on offense, we plan to be aggressive."
The coach�s eyes lit up when I asked about special teams.
�Special teams, you have to hear this because a lot of people don�t
understand this,� he said. �It is a one play series. It is the only time
where all that can happen in one play, and when we really got good at
Duke � going from winning 3 games to 6 and then 10 � that success
happened when we really got good with our special teams.�
The new head Pirate has a blueprint for success and
the energy to implement it. Pirate fans, unmatched in their passion and
football culture by the followers of the state's other teams, will be
counting the days until they can see it unfold on the field.
BB
The
Brian Bailey Show airs on Pirate
Radio 1250 on Mondays at 6:30 p.m.
Brian's guest this week was new East
Carolina football coach Scottie
Montgomery
(right):