Time To Give Pirates Their Due

The Pirates of ECU have beaten six straight games in which they have played an ACC team.  They should have beaten South Carolina on Saturday.  It didn't use to be that the Pirates played a NC State and South Carolina and Virginia Tech back to back to back.

Way back in the 60's the Pirates brought in a coach named Clarence Stasavich and he coached the Pirates from 1962 until 1969.  Back then the Pirates played in the NAIA and three straight years played in Bowl Games. Coach Stas became Athletic Director in 1963 and his desire was to bring the Pirates to D1 football.

They joined the Southern Conference when the league was Richmond, William and Mary, VMI, Marshall, App State, Western Carolina, Furman, Citadel.  This was a good football league.  Coach Stas retire as coach in 1969 and Hired Sonny Randle, Mike McGee and Pat Dye to prepare the Pirates for D1.

State was the first team from the Big Four to play the Pirates on a semi annual basis and the Pirates have played Carolina, Duke and Wake some but not like the Pirates would like.  Why in the world wouldn't all four school want to play them.  How often does  Duke and Wake have sell outs when they play Louisiana Layette.

Their is one major reason all four hate to schedule the Pirates. All four want a victory in their non conference games and none of the four are quaranteed one when they play the Pirates.  All four consider the Pirates second rate and consider it embarrassing to lose to ECU.  The third reason is if they beat you, you will never hear the end of it.  The Pirate Nation still talks of the 1991 Peach Bowl win over NC State.

Do you realize because of the Medical Schoolt ECU has grown to the second largest school in the UNC System behind NC State.  There is nothing second rate about the Pirates.  Despite that ECU can't find any conference considered Power Five that wants them.  The Greenville TV market is simply not desirable to any conference including the Big 12 that adds enough viewers to make the Pirates desirable for any Power Five.

If that is the case it would seem teams like Marshall, App State, Southern Mississippi should find at least eight schools just like themselves and form a conference.  I am sure there is at least eight schools east of the Mississippi that are just like ECU or even more.

It is time that State, Carolina, Duke and Wake  need to realize that with ECU on the schedule they will pack the house.  Accept the Pirates as Who they really are and just as good in football as any other team in the State.  Virginia Tech seems to play the Pirates as much as anybody and the Pirates will try to make it seven in a row over the ACC Saturday.