East Carolina was still in celebration mode after a hard-fought 17-14 homecoming win against Marshall when word of the unthinkable began to circulate around campus on the night of Nov. 14, 1970. On its way home to Huntington, WV, after the game, the chartered plane carrying the Thundering Herd’s traveling party crashed into a hillside just short of the airport’s runway, … [Read more...]

College baseball is a long season and a lot can — and probably will — happen between now and tournament time in mid-May. But it’s always good to get off to a fast start. And coach Cliff Godwin couldn’t have dialed up a better one than the result his team produced this weekend. It wasn’t just that East Carolina swept a season-opening three-game series against a good … [Read more...]

All bridges, no matter how badly they’re burned, can eventually be rebuilt. It just takes a little wood, a hammer and some nails, and the right set of circumstances. When it comes to the relationship between East Carolina and its once-favorite son Ruffin McNeill, there’s no better time than the present to begin work on repairing the pathway that will allow the former Pirate … [Read more...]

Rick Smith wasn’t the answer in 2015. Neither was Kenwick Thompson in 2016 and the first couple of games the following season. Robert Prunty was only an interim and his permanent successor David Blackwell didn’t work out, either. With a new East Carolina coach came another new defensive coordinator. But after just one season and more big numbers put up by the opposition, Bob … [Read more...]

Keith LeClair’s dream of getting a team to the College World Series was at least partially realized last June when two of his former East Carolina players, Michigan coach Erik Bakich and assistant Nick Schnabel, led the Wolverines to a Super Regional championship and a trip to Omaha. It was an accomplishment that would undoubtedly have meant the world to the late baseball … [Read more...]