National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
Football Bowl Subdivision
The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...
(FBS) for football) level as a member of the
American Athletic Conference
The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
coast. One of the most famous pirates,
Blackbeard
Edward Teach (alternatively spelled Edward Thatch, – 22 November 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's North American colonies. Little is known abou ...
, resided in the North Carolina coastal communities of Bath, Beaufort and Ocracoke. The modern day mascot is based on the description of Blackbeard. Many other pirates used the shallow coast and
Outer Banks
The Outer Banks (frequently abbreviated OBX) are a string of barrier islands and spits off the coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, on the east coast of the United States. They line most of the North Carolina coastline, separating ...
to evade capture. ECU officially became the Pirates in 1934. In 1983, a contest was developed to name the Pirates. Children from all over Pitt County submitted their ideas, and Pee Dee the Pirate was chosen. The Pee Dee River is a river along the North Carolina and
South Carolina
)'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
border where pirates often set up camp. The name was less than popular with ECU students, and in 1985 Chancellor Howell decided on his own to drop "Pee Dee" and be known only as "The Pirates". People still use the terms Pee Dee and Petey as the terms for The Pirates, and PeeDee is still the name of their mascot.
Fight song
''E.C. Victory'' is the official
fight song
A fight song is a rousing short song associated with a sports team. The term is most common in the United States and Canada. In Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand these songs are called the team anthem, team song, or games song. First associated ...
at East Carolina University. At the beginning of football games, the fight song with a fanfare, Here's to the Pirates, the
National Anthem
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europea ...
, and Alma Mater is played. The Marching Band plays E.C. Victory a total of three times during the pregame show. The song is also played after touchdowns or field goals in football. At the end of football games, the football team walks to the student section to sing E.C. Victory song in unison. Many alumni stay to sing the Alma Mater as the last sound before leaving Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium.
At men's and women's basketball games the Pep Band plays E.C. Victory at the beginning of the game, beginning of the second half and when additional crowd involvement is needed.
Following the singing of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" during the Seventh Inning stretch in baseball games, the fight song is played to create additional Diamond Bucs support.
The men's and women's swimming and diving teams sing E.C. Victory at their meets.
Color origin
One of the first orders of business, once students arrived to
East Carolina
East Carolina University (ECU) is a public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina.
Founded on March 8, 1907, as a teacher training school, East Carolina has grown from its orig ...
in 1909, was to decide on colors for the school. The students voted, and Old Gold and Royal Purple won. The university officially standardized these colors in 1916. ECU has been purple and gold ever since, though the current official colors have dropped adjectives describing the colors and now list them as Purple and Gold.
Teams
Men's basketball
ECU Men's Basketball is coached by
Joe Dooley
Joe Dooley (born 13 November 1963) is an Irish former hurler and manager.
Dooley enjoyed a successful playing career at club level with Seir Kieran and is the only Offaly player ever to have won three All-Ireland titles. After a spell as pl ...
and plays in
Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum
Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum is a multi-purpose arena in Greenville, North Carolina, US.NCAA Tournament, with the latest appearance occurring in 1993 where they played the North Carolina Tar Heels. East Carolina has had four players to reach the NBA level, Theodore "Blue" Edwards, who was selected by the
Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...
with the 21st overall pick of the
1989 NBA Draft
The 1989 NBA draft took place on June 27, 1989, in New York City. Despite eight of the top ten picks being considered busts, including the first two picks Pervis Ellison and Danny Ferry, the draft produced many talented players such as Shawn Ke ...
,
Oliver Mack
Oliver Mack (born June 6, 1957) is a retired American professional basketball player. Born in New York City, he was a 6'3" (1.90 cm) 185 lb (84 kg) shooting guard. He played college basketball at East Carolina University.
Early yea ...
who was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers as the third pick in the second round of the 1979 NBA Draft, George Maynor, who was selected by the
Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January ...
as the sixth pick in the fourth round of the 1979 NBA Draft, and Charles Alford, who was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers as the ninth pick in the tenth round of the 1968 NBA Draft.
In his first season (2010–2011) at ECU Coach Jeff Lebo took the Pirates to their first postseason game since 1993 when the Pirates lost to Jacksonville in the first round of the 2011 CollegeInsider.com Tournament. In 2013, still under Head Coach Jeff Lebo, the Pirates enjoyed a twenty win regular season and were invited to participate in the CBS Sports sponsored College Insider Tournament. On Tuesday, April 2, 2013, East Carolina won the College Insider Postseason Tournament against Weber State with a three-point buzzer shot 77–74.
Women's basketball
The 2015–16 Lady Pirates are led by head coach Heather Macy who led the team to a 22–11 overall and 11–7 American Athletic Conference record in 2014–15, her fifth season at the helm.
The ECU Lady Pirates have made it to the NCAA Women's Division Tournament twice, in 2007 and 1982. During the 1982 season the Pirates compiled a 17–9 record and were placed as the 6th seed in the Midwest Regional, but lost in the first round of the tournament to South Carolina 79–54. In 2007 the Lady Pirates claimed their first Conference USA tournament title with an upset victory over the Rice Owls. During the regular season the team had a record of 19–13. For the NCAA Tournament the Pirates earned the 13th seed in the Dayton Regional before falling to eventual runner-up 4th seed Rutgers by a score of 77–34.
The Lady Pirates are coming off of their third consecutive 22-win season. They will be led by Jada Payne, of
Hickory, North Carolina
Hickory is a city located primarily in Catawba County, with formal boundaries extending into Burke and Caldwell counties. The city lies in the U.S. state of North Carolina. At the time of the 2020 census, Hickory's population was 43,490. Hickor ...
, who is a redshirt senior transfer from LeSalle. Jada is coming off of a record-breaking year where she became the 22nd player in ECU women's basketball history to have 1,000 career points in the 2014–2015 campaign and broke her previous record for three-pointers made in a season, with 80. She also surpassed her own school record for free throw percentage in a season (.865) and ended the season as the 17th highest scorer in the program's history with 1,132 points.
The first season for the women's team was 1969, and they have an overall record of 681–562 (.548) as of the end of the 2014–2015 season.
The team also won back-to-back Colonial Athletic Association tournament titles in 1984, beating
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
54-39, and in 1985 by beating
James Madison
James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for h ...
65-59 after also winning the Colonial Athletic Association regular season championship with an 11–1 conference record. In 1986 the Lady Pirates made their third straight Colonial Athletic Association title game appearance but fell to James Madison 66–62. Overall while in the Colonial Athletic Association the Lady Pirates made 7 tournament title game appearances with a 2–5 record with appearances in 1984, 1985, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1997, and 1999.
One jersey has been retired from the women's team: Rosalyn "Rosie" Thompson.
Football
The ECU Pirates football team plays its home games at
Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium
Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium is the on-campus football facility at East Carolina University for the East Carolina Pirates in Greenville, North Carolina. The official capacity of the stadium is 51,000, tying it for the second largest college stadium ...
on the ECU campus. The current head coach of the Pirates is Mike Houston. Football started in 1932 and the Pirates have been to 20 bowl games, including 7 in the last 8 years. ECU has won two C-USA championships; in 2008, they defeated Tulsa (27–24) and in 2009, they defeated Houston (38–32).
In 2007, ECU was chosen to play in the
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl
The Hawaiʻi Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played in the Honolulu, Hawaii area since 2002. The game was originally held at Aloha Stadium in Halawa, Hawaii, a suburb of Honolulu, before moving to the Clarence T. C. Ching Athl ...
against the
Boise State Broncos
The Boise State Broncos are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Boise State University, located in Boise, Idaho. The Broncos compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Moun ...
. The Pirates stunned the #24-ranked Broncos, quelling a late Broncos rally, on a game-winning field goal 41–38. Running back Chris Johnson was the game's most valuable player, setting an NCAA record by gathering 407 all-purpose yards. In the 2007–2008 season, ECU produced upset victories over #17 Virginia Tech and #8 West Virginia. The Pirates rode the wave all the way to their first C-USA championship by beating Tulsa, only to lose a heart breaker to Kentucky in the Liberty Bowl. In the 2009 season, the Pirates lost two early season games to North Carolina and West Virginia before going on to win the C-USA East Division Title for the second straight year. East Carolina finished the 2009 regular season at 8–4 over all 7–1 in conference play. ECU won the 2009 C-USA Conference Championship game in Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium on December 5, 2009, at 12 noon, upsetting the 18th-ranked University of Houston, 38–32. The East Carolina Pirates are the first back-to-back C-USA champions since divisional play was started in 2005. The Pirates lost another heartbreaking Liberty Bowl on January 2, 2010, in Memphis, Tennessee. The Pirates lost to Arkansas 20–17 in overtime after ECU missed a game-winning field goal to end regulation play. The 2010 Auto Zone Liberty Bowl tied ECU with Arkansas, Air Force, Alabama, Louisville and Mississippi for the most Liberty Bowl appearances at 4 each.
Twenty-one Pirate student-athletes have been honored as football
All-Americans
The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...
in addition to other awards. ECU has had 63 players selected in the
NFL Draft
The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...
since 1951. The Pirates had at least one player chosen in the NFL draft from 2006–2011, and has had two first round selections: the No. 24 overall pick in the 1992 and 2008 drafts. ECU has produced eight players who have played in 11
Super Bowls
The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...
dating back to 1985. Five of those Pirates have won World Championships.
Swimming and diving
The men's team started in the 1953–54 season and the women's team started in the 1977–78 season. In 1957, the men's swimming and diving team became the first team at ECU to win a national championship under the leadership of Dr. Ray Martinez. Over the years, 87 ECU swimmers and divers have been All-Americans. Head Coach Rick Kobe (1982-2017) won 11 championships with the Pirates. The men's teams were conference champions in 1986 and 1989 in the Colonial Athletic Association, and 2015, 2016, and 2017 in the American Athletic Conference. The women's team won conference championships in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2000 in the CAA; 2001 in the East Coast Athletic Conference; and 2003 in C-USA. Head coach Matthew Jabs led the program with associate head coach Kate Moore, assistants Kevin Woodhull-Smith and Christa Saunders; Jesse Lyman serves as the head diving coach. The most recent championship came in 2020, as the men's team won another American Athletic Conference title, the program's fourth in six years. Both men's and women's swimming and diving programs were cut in the spring 2020. In the spring of 2021 the women's team was reinstated, and began competing again in the fall of 2021.
Baseball
The ECU baseball team, nicknamed the Diamond Bucs, is a Division I NCAA program that competes in the American Athletic Conference. The men's baseball team currently plays at Clark-LeClair Stadium on campus. ECU baseball has consistently finished with a winning record over the past several years. The Pirates have gone to the NCAA Regional Tournament 25 times (including 10 times since 2000), appeared in three NCAA Baseball Super Regionals, won two Conference USA regular-season championships, won one Conference USA conference tournament championship, and have won 40+ games in five of the last seven seasons. Over the years, 15 players have been honored as All-Americans, over 100 former players have played in the Major Leagues, and in 1961 the Diamond Bucs won the NAIA National Championship. The previous coach was
Billy Godwin
Billy Godwin (born November 19, 1964) is an American college baseball coach and former pitcher. He is the head baseball coach at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Godwin played college baseball at Atlantic Christian College in 1986. ...
whose contract wasn't renewed for the 2015 season.
Cliff Godwin
Cliff Godwin (born February 2, 1978) is an American baseball coach and former catcher, who is the current head baseball coach of the East Carolina Pirates. He played college baseball at East Carolina from 1998 to 2001 for head coach Keith LeClai ...
, an ECU alumni has replaced him. In Godwin's first season, won the 2015 American Athletic Conference baseball tournament. In Godwin's second season, he led the Pirates to the Lubbock Super Regional, after sweeping the Charlottesville Regional. In 2017, ECU garnered a #6 pre-season ranking from Baseball America.
Softball
The ECU Lady Pirates won the 2010 C-USA Softball regular season and conference tournament titles. The head coach of the Lady Bucs is Courtney Oliver.
Pitcher Toni Paisley was drafted 10th overall in the 2011
National Pro Fastpitch
National Pro Fastpitch (NPF), formerly the Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL), was a professional women's softball league in the United States. The teams battled for the Cowles Cup.
The WPSL was founded in 1997 and folded in 2001; the NPF revive ...
Draft by the
Akron Racers
The Akron Racers were a women's softball team based in Akron, Ohio. They have moved to Cleveland and been renamed the Cleveland Comets in 2018. The team was started by Joey Arietta in 1999 to participate in the Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL). ...
The men's golf team has won 10 conference championships:
*
Southern Conference
The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly k ...
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
college soccer
College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United K ...
and competes in the
American Athletic Conference
The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...
. The Pirates are coached by former
West Virginia Wesleyan
West Virginia Wesleyan College is a private college in Buckhannon, West Virginia. It has an enrollment of about 1,400 students from 35 U.S. states and 26 countries. The school was founded in 1890 by the West Virginia Conference of the Methodist E ...
alumnus and
North Carolina Wesleyan College
North Carolina Wesleyan University (NCWU) is a private Methodist university in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. It was founded in 1956. North Carolina Wesleyan also offers evening courses at its main Rocky Mount campus, as well as satellite locations ...
Additional varsity men's teams include cross country, tennis and track and field (indoor and outdoor)
Other varsity women's teams include cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, tennis, track and field (indoor and outdoor), and volleyball.
Women's other conference championships
* Soccer – 2008 C-USA regular season
* Outdoor track and field – 2000 CAA
* Indoor track and field – 2012 & 2014 C-USA