East Carolina Pirates: Ruffin McNeill Out After Six Seasons

Nov 28, 2015; Greenville, NC, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Tommy Tuberville hugs East Carolina Pirates head coach Ruffin McNeill after the game at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. The Cincinnati Bearcats defeated the East Carolina Pirates 19-16. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

The East Carolina Pirates joined the coaching carousel by firing Ruffin McNeill as head coach.

The East Carolina Pirates fired Coach Ruffin McNeill after six seasons of service with the team. McNeill led the team to a 5-7 season this season and missed the bowls. McNeill was 42-34 coaching the team after Skip Holtz left for the South Florida job. The team had three winning seasons in his tenure and went to bowls four times. He had one bowl victory over Ohio in the Beef ‘O Brady’s Bowl in 2013.

On one hand, the firing seems like a surprise. McNeill was an alum. He had brought an exciting brand of football to Greenville by bringing on then Texas Tech receivers coach Lincoln Riley to run the Air Raid offense. He defeated North Carolina last year by reaching seventy points. He also defeated State and Carolina in the same year.

Yet McNeill became the victim of several factors.

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