Seriously? Compher, can't fire this guy even if he wanted to after the Ruff fiasco. He's praying he turns it around in season 3, there's no decision to make....

Very well said. When you lose hope, you have lost it all. The AD and B.O.T. do not seem to understand how important it is to make the right hire. Fans have to believe in the coach. When they don't, they don't show up at games and stop paying for season tickets or Pirate club memberships.It is not going to be long, if not already, that local businesses are going to see a lot of lost business.

After UCF was as low as i've felt as a Pirate, the team flat out quit that night. The last three games have been better, and there's been much more fight on display. That doesn't hide the fact that the last two years have been filled with unacceptable moments, of which losing at home to Tulane is only the most recent. Mo shouldn't get a third year. The problem is, he's not the problem.

Good article. Love the JMU suggestion too. Two years without defense, I'm not sure it can get worse on that side of the ball. I still don't see a DE on the roster that has proven he can be an average Division 1 player. No pass rush and no contain. Offense has shown signs of life, but let's face it, Tulane is not the Steel Curtain. Finances aside, have we really made any progress in the past two years to justify a promising outlook for year 3 & beyond ?

JMU coach would be a good person to look at. If not him, go after a coach from a solid winning program that consistently wins... We need a home run in the leadership dept. Coach Mo, nice guy maybe, good position coach maybe..... head coach. I just don't see it. JuCo is not the way to build a program. Insulting players in saying we need to recruit better, we don't have enough team speed, etc. who is gonna suit up and play for a guy that points blame at his players. Ruff understood program - there is no quick fix. Ultimately, I've lost interest and the loses don't hurt anymore. Apathy from a guy who used to really love Pirates football. Don't enjoy watching anymore. Can't get a yard against a Tulane team? Sad state of affairs in my opinion. Need some real change. Until then, good luck. Empty seats don't sell hotdogs. $$$ will become a real issue soon.

I mostly agree with this mildly optimistic yet realistic assessment; the biggest overall positive Sat. night was the team's willingness to keep fighting. I was hoping Coach Mo would go for 2 after the last minute TD. In effect, you're already in OT at that point anyway, with so little time remaining, though not going for the conversion was defensible. Coach doesn't do himself any favors, however, when he brings in Sirk after a long drive, as he did for that attempted pass to the TE. At the point, the D is going to clog the box because Sirk is well known to run, and if he passes (as he did), he's cold off the bench, so you can't count on his accuracy. Also, Sirk is done re eligibility; Coach just has to turn that page. Next up is a mediocre Cinci at home; will the Pirates keep competing, and this time close the deal? It's in them, and they need to do it, if for no other reason than to lessen some of the misery from the past couple of seasons.

I don't see it. I know Ruff was not winning as much as we would've liked, but the guy won 5 games with a 3rd string qb and a receiver his final year. Compared to this guy who is quite simply in over his head as indicated here by having to hire help midway through the season. If the poorly run administration wants to continue wirh empty seats and a decline of support from it's core fan base keep Montgomery. If they want a rebirth similar to what happened after the John Thompson experience when Skip Holtz was hired then let Montgomery go after the Cinci. game should they lose yet again. On the other hand, I'm not sure our current A.D. or B.O.T has the connection with core Pirate fans to understand the need for a rebirth of passion that is missing, or the big picture ideas that Terry Holland had when he reached out to a star in the making in Skip Holtz. Who had been all but forgotten at South Carolina.

"We simply don’t have the funding. Heck, how we are able to compete in the AAC is amazing. Before we attack Compher and what he is paying people I would suggest that everyone take a look online and see how far down the AAC totem pole ECU is with Athletic Budget and coaching pay. Compher doesn’t have a magic wand, money tree or money printing press. " Which makes his firing of McNeill even more dumb. We were overachieving relative to our budget. This isn't even taking into account Compher had no plan and no clue what kind of candidate pool he could attract. I have a good feeling that you probably have some relationship with Compher or are attached to this administration.

Because with the loss of Riley and two years of not very good recruiting we were on a path to what we have now......with or without Ruff. Riley, just like Logan before him, was the REAL reason that staff was successful. Also, think about it. None, not 1 of the trustees, the chancellor nor the AD had a problem with the Ruff firing. Not 1. Unanimous. If it was a poor decision, that decision was not his alone! And if Mo turns out to be a bad hire--it happens! (remember some of T. Hollands' hires that turned out bad like the ex-UVA basketball player as our basketball coach or the baseball coach he hired then had to fire due to hanky panky?). It happens. Job searches. Does that mean that in your job you keep blinders on and don't look into other opportunities? It didn't for me! "publicly for firing Ruff". You are kidding, right? Ruffs contract stated that we owed the man $1.5M over the next 3 years UNLESS he gets a job of which that income will offset what ECU will have to pay. He would have never gotten the UVA job if Compher had released publicly what transpired. The man saved us $1.5M for crying out loud! He took the heat and saved us $1.5m! And yes, PirateWorld, as a linebackers coach at UVA he was making almost what he was as Pirate HC. Want Compher to have more options for a HC? Then break out your checkbook! Also, Compher did pretty well with our Baseball coach hire. The fact of the matter is he has been the NCAA AD of the Year, he just received a 5 year contract, he is working with a shoestring budget and as Pirate fans we can support him and move on or we can continue living in the past, poisoning the ECU waters so that he will have a hard time getting new coaches. I prefer the former and want to move on. GOOO PIRATES!!!! AAAARRRGGH!

I just don't get the blind support and excuses for AD Compher. Poor decisions, job searches every year. Barely believable reasons presented publically for firing Ruff. I support our school and programs, but changes in the administration of the athletic department are long past due.

Also, its all about money. If I remember correctly, Scott Frost at UCF makes about 3 times what we can pay. Eastern NC isn't Orlando. Lots of perks and lots of money there. We didn't have the time nor the money. If we want better coaches then we need to put our money where our mouths are! Or better yet, start HAMMERING our politicians about the unfair and un-American monopoly called the BCS.

It was not a plan to fire Ruffin, Ruffin fired himself by thinking he could take over the Athletic Department and talk smack to his boss, soon after he was fired he worked overtime to poison the waters at East Carolina in relation to a new hire. I loved Ruff but don't anymore

First, Riley was gone before a contract extension was being discussed. Keep in mind when Riley left everyone had an EXISTING contract for FOUR more years. In this world of the unfair and un-American BCS Monopoly there is no way we were going to keep Riley. We simply don't have the funding. Heck, how we are able to compete in the AAC is amazing. Before we attack Compher and what he is paying people I would suggest that everyone take a look online and see how far down the AAC totem pole ECU is with Athletic Budget and coaching pay. Compher doesn't have a magic wand, money tree or money printing press. Everyone should HAMMER our politicians about doing something about the Monopoly called the BCS. And we should also have twice the Pirate Club members. If you want to gripe about coaches pay then break out your checkbook. Also, there was no volatile situation with Riley after a 10 win season. So, I don't know what you mean there. The volatile situation began right after he left when Ruff refused to travel (weight maybe?) to recruit and required his assistants travel to recruit (why they need more pay maybe?). Do you really think after Ruffs' 5-7 year and the recruits we were getting after Riley left that we would be much better over the past 2 years than with Coach Mo? Maybe we would have been a little better due to continuity. But, what are we aspiring to? Mediocrity? I'll take rolling the dice. Lets see.....Longest losing streak in the country in the '80's with Art Baker then we have Bill Lewis/Steve Logan............4-18 John Thompson then we get Skip Holtz and 2 conference titles. Yeah, pain every 15-20 years but success the rest of the time. I'll roll the dice! Bottom line is with the current monopoly BCS we hopefully will be successful enough to have our coaches sought after. That means they are winning! What I don't think ECU can handle is a "Prima Donna" for a Coach that is really great at fielding .500 teams year after year after year.......... that would be worse than a couple of bad years and a coaching change.

A 3 year extension on top of the remaining 3 years on your existing contract isn't good enough? And this one year removed from losing Riley? Even after a 5-7 season and two years of mediocre recruiting? This isn't good enough? Boy, I should work for you!

Ruff went to bat to get his well deserving assistants raises and extensions as well....which *maybe* would have had some sway in keeping Riley around. With no extra money, and a volatile situation, Riley made the only reasonable choice and left. That is when the spiral started and that is what led to the firing of the one active ncaa coach that wasn’t looking for ECU to be his stepping stone. The ‘ripples’ made no one else WANT the job because it was made abundantly clear that not only did we have no money and exceedingly high expectations, we had an AD who shows no loyalty to anyone. He made sure we will go back to coaches that just want to use us while looking around for more. Compher screwed us, and he should resign. Our program has hit rock bottom and is trying to burrow down even further. Maybe we can give Mo one more year to see if he’s learned anything or maybe has a magic rabbit somewhere. But I’m not so sure.