As I see it, the perfect antidote for the post-Christmas letdown during the last week of the calendar year is taking in all of the “Year In Review” articles and specials. I never tire of the retrospectives, lists and highlight reels reviewing the year that was. I like those features so much, in fact, that… [ Continue Reading ]

East Carolina Board of Trustees Chairman Kieran Shanahan described the place the Pirate faithful have been inhabiting this fall as “the wilderness,” and that seems accurate if that wilderness is also dry and sweltering like a desert. Fans in the Pirate Nation have been trudging along, thirsty and scorched, suffering a glut of disappointments, wondering… [ Continue Reading ]

Two years ago, Gustavo Santos was trying to adjust to life in the United States. He couldn’t speak English very well, practices were run differently than in Brazil and he had rarely competed in a short-course pool. Last week at the Georgia Tech Invitational, Santos gave a clear indication that he had fully acclimated to… [ Continue Reading ]

Wednesday’s meeting of the East Carolina Board of Trustees ended without a public announcement, even though the board was expected to finalize the terms for the hiring of a new athletic director. In the meeting’s open session, Chairman Kieran Shanahan informed the media that nothing would be announced at the conclusion of the closed personnel… [ Continue Reading ]

For every young player who trots in from the sideline in his first college game and makes a big play — an athlete like East Carolina wide receiver Tyler Snead — there is a community of former high school teammates and coaches, like the crowd at Millbrook High School in Raleigh, cheering that player on.… [ Continue Reading ]

It was just one intense, triumphant minute in the second quarter of the East Carolina women’s team’s 59-47 win over Grand Canyon on Wednesday, but that sixty seconds gave the Pirates permanent possession of the momentum and reminded coach Chad Killinger of two factors that propelled ECU to 3-0 — experience and coachability. After a… [ Continue Reading ]

The complete record of East Carolina game dates has only been kept since 1960, but it’s a fun fact that in those 58 years no Pirate basketball season has started as early as this one. Five years ago, the first game was played on November 8, but November 6 sets a new standard. Not that… [ Continue Reading ]