We are definitely in a tight spot and my initial and emotional response is to fire Coach Mo. The cupboards were not bare when he got here and I’m necessarily blaming Benkerts transfer on Coach Mo it’s just that if he was the motivator and offensive guru we need I think Benkert might have stayed. Especially because offensively we still had Zay Jones. Also with Minshew he knew some serious competition was coming in but if our program was where it needed to be he would have stayed and we could’ve red shirted Ahlers and have him develop more naturally. I just listened to Coach Logan on WRAL and whether you like him or not he has a very high football IQ. He spoke about the perfect storm we are in at ECU. We really don’t have stability at any phase of the university. Rumors of chancellor leaving, no AD, and a coach on the hot seat. This makes getting a quality Coach really difficult right now. Good coach’s want to be hired by an AD and have a strong group at the top. Currently at every level we are unstable. As he put it the pool of quality potential coach’s that will look at ECU currently is much less because of our situation. Which unfortunately leads me to a new thought. We need to punt. In football ball terms we are 4th and 25 from our own 5 yard line. Time to punt get our house in order from AD and chancellor positions. We MUST get a new OC because our current one is vanilla and ride one more year with Coach mo. Hope he recruits well again because I do think he can do that well. It really is a mess but timing is everything and currently it just not the best time to attract the best coach for long term success at ECU.

It's really not. Why would we hire a new coach if we don't have an AD to hire him? You think a new AD wants to come in right after we buy out an existing contract + a new contract for a coach they didn't hire (on top of an already existing budget deficit)? Nothing insane about stating an unfortunate reality.

Mo is many good things. A hard worker, a great recruiter and good with the media. One thing he clearly is not however, is a D1 football coach. The storm, sadly, is not even close to being over. We won't get a new football coach till we get a new AD, and we won't get a new AD until the confusion around the Chancellor's future is cleared up.

On board the Pirate ship and will go up or down with the Pirate ship. Coach Mo or no Coach Mo. The Compher years are behind us and if our Coaches are clean and the kids are graduating, well good. I want to win as much as the next guy but the AAC is giving ECU the shaft. Funny how all the schools in the AAC that were in the Big 12 conversation awhile back now get all the attention with the game officials and otherwise. The cupboard was bare when Mo got here and a couple of quarterbacks wouldn't have made the difference. Get the AD in place and then get 2019 in the books and see where we stand. But as Alumni and fans, don't jump the ship the storm is nearly over.

If change is not made,I any many others will drop season tickets. Been a holder since 1970

Not sure where you get you info for the article, about "there’s a realistic chance that Montgomery will be retained because of ECU’s lack of a full-time athletic director." That's an insane statement, and I know you know the facts as well as I do.

Insanity is doing the same thing over (3-9) and over (3-9) and over(3-8) again expecting a different result!!!

And I say fire him on December 2nd the day after the next likely humiliation. I’ve seen no real improvement on the field and nothing but apathy off of it. Most of my old friends are going to tailgate in Raleigh but are not planning enter the stadium. I saw the last act of Thompson vs NCSt in Charlotte it was ugly and infuriating to see in person. No one thought another year of that was a good idea. Skip Holtz came in the next season and brought immediate turnaround and fresh hope ensued. You don’t continue driving a totaled car because you still owe money on it, you get a new one or at least a better used one. He’s no Pirate and we all know it. He’s never acted like or talked like one. It’s time for him to walk the plank!

I'm not an ECU alum and don't know the "inside baseball", but, yes, things are more dire than I'd realized, to Coach's advantage. I agree w/ what you're saying generally, including the part about him seeming to be a decent recruiter, so give him one more year, w/ the understanding that under no circumstances can he stay longer absent a bowl. As I've said before, he MUST do something about that OL; of many weaknesses, the OL is the biggest one, and jeopardizes the team's biggest asset, Ahlers. (The secondary is a big problem, too!)

Excellent points. I’m not blaming Benkerts transfer on Coach Mo it’s just that if he was the motivator and offensive guru we need I think Benkert might have stayed. Especially because offensively we still had Zay Jones. Also with Minshew he knew some serious competition was coming in but if our program was where it needed to be he would have stayed and we could’ve red shirted Ahlers and have him develop more naturally. I just listened to Coach Logan on WRAL and whether you like him or not he has a very high football IQ. He spoke about the perfect storm we are in at ECU. We really don’t have stability at any phase of the university. Rumors of chancellor leaving, no AD, and a coach on the hot seat. This makes getting a quality Coach really difficult right now. Good coach’s want to be hired by an AD and have a strong group at the top. Currently at every level we are unstable. As he put it the pool of quality potential coach’s that will look at ECU currently is much less because of our situation. Which unfortunately leads me to a new thought. We need to punt. Get our house in order from AD and chancellor positions. Get a new OC because our current one is vanilla and ride one more year with Coach mo. Hope he recruits well again because I do think he can do that well. It really is a mess but timing is everything and currently it just not the best time to attract the best coach for long term success at ECU.

To blame Benkert's transfer on Montgomery before he coached a single game at ECU doesn't seem to make much sense. Minshew is admittedly another story. ...as is Coach's 9-26 record to date. ...as is the embarrassment factor in a number of those losses, including yesterday and at Temple earlier this year. It's not just all the losing, it also the cycle that they're in now of sowing a little bit of hope after a rare win (e.g,, vs. UConn last week), or at least a respectable showing (e.g., vs. USF), and then crushing it all in one horrendous performance. What a mess. I'm not saying Montgomery needs to be fired (yet), but nor am I arguing against those who are, but even if the university wants to make that call, there's no AD in place to do it; ECU seems unable to get anything right these days!

Hi Al. Love your work when it comes to Pirate football. Also I’m a firm believer in accenting the positive. However in this case I’ve got to say the headline of this game was an ill prepared football team beaten soundly schematically and physically in every aspect. In my opinion the glimpse of a positive play while great is not headline worthy. I had to listen to the whole game on radio because I was driving home from Turkey Day. Listening to Jeff and Kevin describing the game was difficult and Jeff got it right when he called it a “nightmare.” Jeff also mentioned how ECU used to thump Cincinnati and we won the first 7 contests in a row. They also said multiple times that Ahlers had to be literally helped up from the ground just about all game. Why in the world would you leave him in as long as they did down that many points with line playing so poorly? He is our future. I know he would want to play but the coach needs to not only think of this year but coming years. I do believe that we have the players to be competitive but our coaching is just not cutting it. Mo has shown no ability to develop players especially QB considering the two great QB’s he inherited Benkert and Minshew both transferred and had tremendous success. One transfer of a great player is understandable but losing two in two years starts to be a trend. I also understand that the leadership has put our athletic teams in a bind with their current situation. However, ECU has always had things the were challenging but found a way to overcome. We can’t overcome a poor coach. We couldn’t with Thompson and we can’t now with Mo.

As Andy said, "What it was was football." I think.

Just a great article! I love these success stories. Thanks.

HELLO SKIPPER THAT IS A TERM FOR CAPTAIN SO I AM CALLING YOU SKIPPER.......I AM NOTING A 'SOMETHING IN YOUR RECENT COMMENT HERE...........A CERTAIN COMMENT THAT MEANS OR IT APPEARS TO ME MEANS 'PERHAPS T THIS GIVEN TIME DO WE LOOK IN YOUR DIRECTION FOR A MAYBE?