I was hoping for a miracle and it would probably have taken one for us to beat Temple, but I can recall us pulling out miracles in years past. I am glad that we can put this season behind us and get ready for next year. God bless our team and coaches and may he be with us next season. GGOOO....PPIRATES!!!

"State Champs" with a 3 win season? Sure... Beat State, Carolina, Duke, and Wake Forest in the same season...then we'll talk.

You are so right John. The power five and large college programs are all about the money. It has gotten so stupid. It used to be a conference was about local rivalry and close proximity to other schools. The big schools are killing college football in the pursuit of TV revenue. Noticed how many empty football stadiums there are on television? I personally do not have a lot of faith in the future of college football. It was far better twenty years ago.

No such thing as power 5 just money five and the AAC is better than the PAC 12, B12, and just as good as the ACC. Something needs to change ASAP

Debated on whether to go to the game this past Saturday. I try to be the eternal optimist and prayed for a major upset. I have seen Navy play several times lately and they have an exceptionally disciplined team and talented team. They never let up. I said at the beginning of they game that if we win, it will be due to our defense. That is always going to be the case, and I saw some good defense play by our guys. Just not enough. Praying for an upset against Temple. GGOOO....PIRATES!!!

Program was in a death spiral at the end of last, so this is not unexpected. This may take some time.

ECU has never been the quality of program that simply "reloads" and then has a slight drop off or no drop off like an Alabama, Oklahoma, etc. I assume that we are in a "rebuilding phase" for now and possibly next year. It is times like this that a coaching staff earns its money. With great recruits, a typical high school coach could possibly be successful. Great coaches do great things with limited resources. Let's hope that coach Mo can right the ship next season and be so successful that we have to fear losing him to a mid major. GGOOO...PPIRATES!!!

Wrong.

You can't compete in this league with one star athletes and walk ons. Maybe in CUSA, but not in the AAC. Ruff wasn't let go because of wins/losses but lets say he was. I believe we would have endured 3 more years of losing seasons if we hadn't cut the cord. With the recruits we are currently getting I believe we will have a winning season next year and then it will get better from there.

Dave you nailed it!! I love how our kids compete, they, for the most part have been courageous but the truth is, with the exception of Western Carolina , the difference in talent level, speed and size of opponents and our Pirates is glaring. State especially had far superior athletes, their coach turned out to be our best player that day. Recruiting is by far the biggest reason coaches are terminated. It's hard work, demanding , odd hours, travel and you are talking to usually cocky kids who have a lot to learn about how thing really work. I love Ruff, who doesn't, but he didn't recruit. All the coaches we have terminated, with the exception of John Thompson were fired for not recruiting. I think Thompson recruited 6 players who would go on to play in NFL. --------Scottie doesn't have the luxury of getting kids out of high school and red shirting them, he has to go JUCO, and there is usually a reason the kid is in JUCO. Coach Stas told me back in 1968, " you can enter a hard working plow horse in the Kentucky derby, but you probably ain't gonna win". I promise no one hates losing like Scottie, we hired him to recruit, develop kids, build a program, lets allow him to do that and the wins will come.

Interesting commentary Dave. I hope you are right on. For what it is worth, has anyone ever contacted Steve Logan about a job with ECU? Yes, he was screwed over, but without a doubt the best coach we have ever had. He developed average talented players into good to great players and could win with less talent. Just saying.

Sounds just like what the doctor ordered. Obvious from last few games that we need some help on defense and special team. With bad team performance, I am afraid that our recruiting will be negatively affected. Praying that we can get the ship headed in the right direction soon. GGOO...PPIRATES!!!!

I think Coach M needs to research his defensive staff/schemes/personnel. ECU program is going the wrong way giving up this many points to the opponents. (30+) Have you written on this issue or did I miss something?

You are correct, John, there are a lot of things Pirate nation doesn't know about the firing. Remember that the firing had 100% support from the Board of Trustees and the old Chancellor. 100%. Unanimous decision. He should have been fired. Compher keeping quiet about why helped get him hired at Virginia and will save ECU Athletics over a million dollars. I won't go into it but if you were in Comphers' shoes you would have fired him too. Everyone should keep in mind that he hired our baseball coach too. Not too shabby there! The reason for our situation is simple. Due to injuries we had to go to FOUR former walk ons just on our defense last Saturday! I loved Ruff but you simply will not compete in this new league because you can only recruit 1 star recruits and walk ons. Sure, we've been lucky with a few walk ons but does that mean you made a mistake with the recruit that is on scholarship? Hmmmm...... Our problems are obvious if you don't follow the ball this Saturday. Instead watch our lines on both sides of the ball. You will see. Who can run the ball with no holes to run through? Who can pass the ball when the defense is all over you? Who can catch the ball when your QB has so much pressure he has to release early (there are only a couple of recievers like Zay that has the speed to get to where he needs to be for an early release by the QB. On the other side of the ball there is zero pressure on the QB which puts or DB's in a helluva bind. When McGill leaves the game the opposing offensive line can open holes you can drive a bus through. Just watch and see. The early special teams play could be for the same reasons. I think we are now using some skill players to shore up play there. Coach Mo has a lot of 3 star players coming in. A 4 star just committed. When was the last time that happened? Everyone needs to take a deep breathe, relax, and realize if we can keep these two men (Montgomery and Compher) on the Pirate ship I believe it will lead to something truly special in a couple of years. See you on Saturday!

Compher let's the basketball team muddle along with no shake up. He then fires a coach who is a ECU alum, former player after a bad year with a third string QB. I think there is more under the surface but that is only speculation. Compher has made to many bad decisions. These decisions have made us unattractive to a power five conference and we are not helping the cause on making the AAC look like a power six member. His decisions have been horrible.