East Carolina Pirates: Ruffin McNeill Out After Six Seasons

Jan 3, 2015; Birmingham, AL, USA; Florida Gators defensive back Brian Poole (24) with the trophy after this team won the Birmingham Bowl against the East Carolina Pirates at Legion Field. Mandatory Credit: Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports

Second, McNeill was the victim of the Mark Richt problem. McNeill never won the big game.

This was despite having arguably the most talented roster that any East Carolina team had fielded in 2014. He had Carden, NCAA record breaker Justin Hardy, and a stout defense and did not even win the American Athletic Conference with it, instead going 5-3 in conference.

He lost three of four bowl games, and games to Temple and UCF in 2014 that could have or should have gone the other way. Instead of getting 15 years to work it out, McNeill got six.

Next: AAC is growing up while ECU had its down year