Why NC State, ECU game holds additional meaning for Wolfpack, Ruffin McNeill
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Ruffin McNeill now supports N.C. State after years coaching and playing at ECU.
- McNeill serves as mentor and advisor in his sixth season on Dave Doeren’s staff.
- Career spans decades with key roles at ECU, Oklahoma, Virginia and Texas Tech.
Purple and gold used to be the primary color scheme in Ruffin McNeill’s closet, and he used to roam the visiting sideline at Carter-Finley Stadium. His goal? Beat N.C. State.
McNeill, a 2021 East Carolina Hall of Fame inductee, was part of the Pirates’ program for victories in 1976 and 1977, then again in 2010 and 2013.
Thursday, he faces his alma mater and former employer — for the second time in as many games — with the opposite objective, wearing a different color scheme.
“I respect East Carolina. It’s been a part of my life for a long time, but I work at N.C. State now,” McNeill said last week. “I’ve got some former players on their staff, but each game is a competition. The fact that I’ve coached there and played there makes it look different.”
Sophomore quarterback CJ Bailey said McNeill doesn’t talk a lot about ECU or any other team — he’s committed to the Pack — but the players know about the connection.
“It motivates me a lot, because I know Coach Ruff wants that win,” Bailey said at ACC Kickoff.
Working with Pack ‘an honor’
McNeill enters his sixth season as a special assistant to N.C. State head coach Dave Doeren, a job created by Athletic Director Boo Corrigan, after McNeill returned to North Carolina to help care for his late father.
“It’s been an honor to work for Dave and work with him,” McNeill said. “Dave is the winningest coach in N.C. State history and one of the best men I’ve worked for in my 46 years. He really is.
“People throw ‘family’ around a lot, but when I say we’re family, we are. I think the world of him and Miss Sara and the boys, and he thinks the world of Erlene and my girls.”
Doeren and McNeill’s relationship stretches back to 1999. McNeill was an assistant coach at Fresno State while Doeren worked as a graduate assistant at Southern California. Doeren, in 2023, told a story to the Raleigh Sports Club about McNeill’s love for the game and passion for helping young coaches. That resonated with Doeren, who was still new in the business.
After their initial introduction, the two remained friends and competed against each other at various stops, including an overlap as Big 12 assistants, when McNeill was at Texas Tech and Doeren at Kansas. When they weren’t on opposite sidelines, they followed each other’s careers and remained in contact.
They crossed paths again when McNeill was hired as East Carolina’s head coach. From 2010-15, McNeill put together at 42-34 record and led the Pirates to four bowl game appearances, one bowl win, one 10-win season, a Conference USA division title in 2012, and victories over N.C. State and North Carolina in 2013, Doeren’s first season at N.C. State.
At ECU, McNeill also gave now-USC head coach Lincoln Riley his first offensive coordinator gig after they were on the same Red Raiders staff. The opportunity ultimately helped propel the young coach’s career into the highest level of college football.
East Carolina, which has a new athletic director, fired McNeill in 2015 after the team went 5-7. Scottie Montgomery never won more than three games, and Mike Houston went 27-38 before he was fired last season. Blake Harrell served as interim head coach in 2024 and was promoted at the end of the season.
“In my opinion, the biggest mistake ever made was that school letting him go,” Doeren said two years ago.
McNeill, however, said he had a great experience, with wonderful staff and players during his time at ECU. He doesn’t have any regrets and is grateful for the opportunity many don’t receive.
“It’s something that doesn’t happen all the time, but it did for me. It’s called a blessing. Sometimes you get a ‘God wink,’ when you get a chance to coach at your alma mater,” McNeill said. “All of my coaching stops have been fantastic. I’ve enjoyed coaching. I’ve enjoyed the profession of teaching, the camaraderie among the staff at all the schools I had a chance to coach at.”
Moving on in coaching
McNeill spent the 2016 season at Virginia, alongside current N.C. State offensive line coach Garrett Tujague, and three at Oklahoma with Riley as the assistant head coach. He expected to retire upon his return home, but Doeren’s offer allowed flexibility to be with his family and remain around the game.
“We’re so fortunate to have him here,” Doeren said last August. “He’s a national treasure, in my opinion, in many ways; coaching knowledge, the way he just treats people, his humanity, his love for people in general — not just players and coaches. He’s a great human being … I love being around him. It’s so awesome for me just to be able to go into his office every day and sit on the couch and talk.”
The two will discuss anything from family life, players, upcoming opponents and “pain points,” as Doeren described, of the job. McNeill, as his friend and boss calls him, a “second set of eyes” for the program and a mentor, not only to the coaches but the players.
McNeill is often at practice to greet the players and has an open-door policy for anyone, young or old. Anyone in the program is welcome to seek support, advice or even a laugh.
“If Coach Doeren is not there, Coach Ruff is going to be the guy,” Bailey said. “I talk to Coach Ruff almost every day, because he has some knowledge. He’s been around a very long time.”
Not done yet
North Carolina has always been home for McNeill, growing up in Lumberton — a little more than an hour and a half south of Carter-Finley Stadium — to parents who were both teachers. His father, the late Ruffin McNeill Sr., was also a football coach. The younger played football, basketball and baseball.
McNeill, now 66, wouldn’t pick a favorite sport — he said all three — but he stuck with football because he was offered a spot at East Carolina, becoming the first Black athlete from Lumberton High School to earn a Division I football scholarship.
He summarized his own college career, from 1976-80, saying he played for a great coach in Pat Dye Sr., met great teammates and “won some games.” During McNeill’s playing career, he was part of the 1976 Southern Conference championship team and won the 1978 Independence Bowl against Louisiana Tech.
McNeill transitioned into coaching after his playing career ended, assisting the ECU staff in spring ball for the 1981 season, before joining Lumberton High School as an assistant football coach, head basketball coach and track coach.
“I enjoyed it. Then as I stayed in it, I had an interest in giving college coaching a try,” McNeill said. “That’s when I got into Clemson and started my college path at that time.”
While completing his Master’s Degree in counseling at Clemson, he coached the Tigers as a graduate assistant. His career spans nearly half a decade with stops at Austin Peay, North Alabama, Appalachian State and UNLV, in addition to the ones most people know.
McNeill has been involved with football for most of his life, but the longtime coach doesn’t think he’s arrived. He hasn’t accomplished everything he’s set out to do.
“I strive for learning every day and at every stop I’ve learned,” McNeill said. “Here, I learn something every day about myself, about the team, about people I’m working with; and make sure I’m trying to get better as an individual, as a coach and help others.”
