First-year football coach Mike Houston and staff have made many adjustments aimed at turning around a program that has been through four straight losing seasons. Houston moved East Carolina's media day from the beginning of preseason camp to the end of the of the sessions as classes began this week. It was an astute change and made the interviews more meaningful in terms of … [Read more...]

At Wednesday’s post-practice press conference, East Carolina coach Mike Houston told a tale of two moments in recent Pirate football history. One was uplifting; one was anything but. One was captured on film but no one enjoys watching it; one wasn’t recorded but Houston wishes it had been. Let’s start with the highlight, which occurred at a team meeting on Monday. … [Read more...]

East Carolina wrapped up fall camp over the weekend with the team’s second scrimmage of the preseason. Both sides of the ball, the offense and the defense, had their moments to shine in the Saturday scrimmage. It was especially nice to see the defense play so well at times. When you’re playing one another sometimes it’s hard to tell which unit is shining. Is the defense … [Read more...]

Mike Houston did a lot of talking during East Carolina’s media day on Saturday. He just didn’t say much, especially when it comes to providing insight on the battle for the starting quarterback job. His most definitive statement on the subject was that he and offensive coordinator Donnie Kirkpatrick will have to decide between sophomore Holton Ahlers and redshirt junior Reid … [Read more...]

GREENVILLE — As successful as first-year East Carolina coach Mike Houston has been in compiling an 80-25 record in eight seasons at Lenoir-Rhyne, The Citadel and James Madison, his current profession was not his first choice as he graduated from Mars Hill. Houston shared the story during one-on-one interviews at ECU's football media day on Saturday. "I was pre-med in … [Read more...]