Schedule change swayed Montgomery's thinking GREENVILLE — Coach Scottie Montgomery said earlier in the week that Thomas Sirk would start at quarterback for East Carolina against Virginia Tech if the team’s doctors allowed it. Sirk, who was in the Pirates’ concussion protocol after taking a hard hit to the head in last week’s loss at West Virginia, was cleared to return to … [Read more...]

Accountability. It’s the foundation of every successful organization, especially in sports where the cohesion between coaches and players performing so many different roles is such an essential element to victory. When things don’t go according to plan, the fastest way to fix the problem is for someone to be held accountable. That’s what happened with the East Carolina … [Read more...]

Coaches are always telling us that things are never as good or as bad as they seem to the naked eye once they’ve had a chance to go back and analyze the tape of their team’s performance in a particular game. And that was probably the case with Scottie Montgomery and his staff on Sunday after they relived all the gory details of East Carolina’s unsightly 34-14 pounding at the … [Read more...]

“The most important game we play is the next one on the schedule.” It’s a line that’s been used so many times by coaches and players in every sport that it’s become an eye roll inducing cliché. But in the case of the 2017 East Carolina football team, it’s true. The next game on the Pirates’ schedule really is the most important one they’ll play. Because while coach … [Read more...]

Scottie Montgomery said at the start of preseason camp that he’d know who his starting quarterback will be after his team’s second intrasquad scrimmage. That practice game took place on Saturday. So presumably, the second-year East Carolina coach has either made up his mind who will be under center for the first snap against James Madison in two weeks or he’ll make that … [Read more...]