Pirates chart new course with McNeill

GREENVILLE -- College football is more important in Greenville than most places.

Pat Dye, the ECU coach who took the Pirates to UNC in 1975 and came back with a 38-17 win that startled all of the state and most of the ACC area, used to talk about how much Greenville reminded him of Tuscaloosa, Ala.

"It's the kind of place where football's a big part of who folks are," said Dye, who had worked eight seasons as an assistant to Bear Bryant at Alabama.

But virtually in the same breath, Dye added, "That's the sort of thing for a coach that can be real good or real bad, depending on what your record is - 'cause it's also the kind of place where everybody knows how many of 'em you've won and how many of 'em you've lost."

Ruffin McNeill, once one of the best defensive backs Dye coached in Greenville, is 0-0 with the Pirates.

A lot of older fans around town still fondly remember 1977's opening night in Raleigh when McNeill's head-on hit against N.C. State runner Rickey Adams on the 3-yard line preserved a second straight road win over the Wolfpack.

"People just love Ruffin," said Greenville resident Catherine Gavigan, a middle-aged mother of two ECU alums.

Over lunch at the popular Met Deli on Friday with her son John, the two did what people have been doing each August in Greenville for decades. They talked about the Pirates and about yet another coaching change.

It's the sort of mysterious new dawn that's become as much a part of ECU football as the billowing cloud of hazy purple smoke that Pirates players race blindly through just before kickoff.

After five years, four bowls and two straight Conference USA championships, Skip Holtz left for South Florida after last season.

Dye, after six successful seasons, ventured off to Wyoming en route to Auburn. Mike McGee (1970) stayed one season and went to Duke, followed in 1971 by Sonny Randle, who resigned in '73 following two straight 9-2 seasons to lead Virginia. Bill Lewis' 1991 team finished 11-1, beat State in a stirring Peach Bowl and then left for Georgia Tech.

"The revolving door gets frustrating in a way," said Dr. Dennis Ross, a Greenville orthodontist whose father made the primary endowment gift for the new ECU dental school.

"But at the same time, Holtz gave us some great memories, and I do think he enjoyed his years here. Now, it's Ruffin's turn, and he seems very happy to be back."

It's equally clear that McNeill will begin with an unusually large margin for error.

Against a non-league lineup that includes State, UNC, Virginia Tech and Navy and with a roster virtually void of experience, McNeill can count on having a crowd dominated by realists in his first season.

"If we win six games, he should be coach of the year," said Roger Williamson, a 28-year-old Columbia, S.C., resident whose job and devotion to Pirates football brings him to Greenville frequently.

"I liked Skip a ton, and he did a great job developing the program. But you have to admit, he picked the perfect time to leave, too. Nobody in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium will know anything about those guys on the field when this season starts."

The 2011 season might be a different matter. While fans may have modest won-lost expectations, ECU people always have put a priority on progress whether the subject is sports or anything else associated with the school.

"I'm looking for execution and excitement from the players, but it needs to be excitement with discipline," said Corey Dixon, who was an ECU student during that landmark '91 season.

"The trend this year will show us the direction we're going to take with the new staff. This season, it might be more important to be competitive on every play and learn what it takes to win than what the final record actually turns out to be."

John Gavigan put it another way - the Pirates way.

"I'd take 6-6," he said. "But I sure would like for two of those wins to be over State and Carolina."