East Carolina Pirates

The East Carolina Pirates are the intercollegiate sports teams representing East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. All varsity-level sports teams sponsored by the university compete in NCAA Division I as a member of Conference USA. In football, the Pirates, as do all other C-USA members, play in the top-tier Division I Football Bowl Subdivision.

Name origin
Pirates have long been associated with the North Carolina coast. One of the most famous pirates, Blackbeard, 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 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 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 at East Carolina University. At the beginning of football games, the National Anthem and Alma Mater is played. Right after the Alma Mater is finished, the Marching Band and crowd starts to sing the E.C. Victory song. The song is also played after touchdowns or big plays in football. At the end of football games, the football team walks to the student section to sing the Alma Mater and E.C. Victory song in unison.

Color origin
One of the first order of business once students arrived to East Carolina in 1909 was to decide on colors for the school. The students voted and Old Gold and Royal Purple won. The university official 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.

Men's Basketball
The Pirates appeared in the NAIA National Tournament two years (1953 and 1954), each year losing in the first round. The Pirates combined record in the NAIA was 2-2. The Pirates have also made two appearances in the 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 with the 21st overall pick of the 1989 NBA Draft, Oliver Mack 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 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.

After the departure of coach Mack McCarthey to an administrative job, the Pirates have hired former Auburn coach, Jeff Lebo as their new head coach.

In his first season (2010-2011) at ECU Coach Jeff Lebo took the Pirates to their first post season game since 1993 when the Pirates lost to Jacksonville in the first round of the CIT tournament.

Women's Basketball
The Lady Pirates are led by second year head coach Heather Macy who led the team to a 19-16 record in her first 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.

From 2007-2010 the Lady Pirates have posted three consecutive winning seasons.

The first season for the women's team was 1969 and they have an overall record of 603-513 (.537) as of the end of the 2010-2011 season.

The team also won back-to-back Colonial Athletic Association tournament titles in 1984, beating Richmond 54-39, and in 1985 by beating James Madison 65-59 after also winning the CAA regular season championship with an 11-1 conference record. In 1986 the Lady Pirates made their third straight CAA title game appearance but fell to James Madison 66-62. Overall while in the CAA 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 on the ECU campus. Football started in 1932 and the Pirates have been to 12 bowl games. In 2006 the Pirates ended the year with a 7-5 record and were invited to the Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, Alabama. The head coach of the Pirates is Ruffin McNeill. Also in 2008 the pirates went to the C-USA Championship game in Tulsa Oklahoma who in which the ECU Pirates ended up beating The Golden Hurricane 27-24 Nineteen Pirate student-athletes have been honored as football All-Americans in addition to other awards. ECU has had 52 players selected in the NFL Draft since 1961. The Pirates have had at least one player chosen in 12 of the past 16 NFL drafts with 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 dating back to 1985. Five of those Pirates have won World Championships. In 2007, ECU was chosen to play in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl against the Boise State Broncos. 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 heart breaking 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.

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. Over the years, 87 ECU swimmers and divers have been All-Americans. The men's teams were Conference Champions in 1986 and 1989 in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). The women's team won conference championships in 1995 through 1997 and 2000 in the CAA; 2001 in the East Coast Athletic Conference; and 2003 in C-USA. The head coach is Rick Kobe. The assistant coaches are Matt Jabs, Kate Gordon, Kevin Woodhull-Smith and Keith Dawley; Ryan Hunt serves as the head diving coach.

Baseball
The ECU baseball team is a Division I NCAA program that competes in Conference USA. The men's baseball team currently plays at Clark-LeClair Stadium on campus. The Pirate baseball team has consistently finished with a winning record over the past several years. They have been regular season conference champions 12 times and conference tournament champions 10 times. The Pirates have gone to the NCAA Tournament 22 times, including in 2007. The Pirates have appeared in 22 NCAA Baseball Regional tournaments (including seven straight between 1999 and 2005), two NCAA Baseball Super Regional appearances, one Conference USA regular-season 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 current coach is Billy Godwin.

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 Tracey Kee who became just the 45th head coach to win 600 career games on April 17, 2010, all as the Head Coach at East Carolina.

Pitcher Toni Paisley was drafted 10th overall in the 2011 National Pro Fastpitch Draft by the Akron Racers.

Regular Season Conference Titles

 * 2010 C-USA

Conference Tournament Titles

 * 2010 C-USA
 * 2011 C-USA

Other
Additional Varsity Men's teams include: Cross Country, Golf, Tennis and Track and Field.

Other Varsity Women's teams include: Cross Country, Golf, Soccer, Tennis, Track and Field, and Volleyball.

Women's Other Conference Championships

 * Soccer - 2008 C-USA Regular Season
 * Outdoor Track and Field - 2000 CAA
 * Indoor Track and Field - 2012 C-USA