An Update From AD Jon Gilbert

Pirate Nation:

I want to acknowledge and thank Pirate Nation for their continued support of our athletics department. Not a day goes by that I don't stop and reflect on our fanbase. Pirate Nation makes this job unique. You are part of our brand and identity and it's what makes living in this community so special.

Our department will never take your support for granted. We spend a considerable amount of time analyzing home attendance for all sports. We constantly look for ways to improve fan and student engagement. It's imperative we continue to listen, take feedback and better understand the needs of our customers. Hey, we are a little different in Eastern North Carolina, so our focus is on US, not what another school is doing. Plus, no one tailgates like the Pirates.

Sometimes we occupy so much time worrying about the future that we lose sight of the successes. It's important we celebrate the small victories. The support of Pirate Nation has been extraordinary in 2019.

We asked you to take a chance on us and the positive response is encouraging for all associated with East Carolina Athletics. Is everything perfect? Not even close. Everybody wants to be associated with successful programs and we are striving for every sport to reach that level. No one is working harder than our student-athletes, coaches and staff to be great representatives of this university.

I hear a lot of people discuss getting back to 50,000 fans in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium and we want it as bad as anyone. But while we strive for a larger crowd, let's not forget to celebrate the small steps. Unfortunately, we had a rough stretch the last couple of years, but I have no doubt we are headed in the right direction.

In the last five years, we had three games with 50,000-plus fans, matchups against NC State, Virginia Tech and North Carolina. Do I envision a future where we are averaging 45,000-plus fans consistently at home? Absolutely, but we are not going to lack appreciation for our loyal supporters on this journey. We understand you are spending hard-earned money with our department and we don't take that commitment lightly. Attendance in the current climate is challenging, but we feel strongly about our plan moving forward.

I appreciate every person who invested in football season tickets in 2019. We have had hundreds of fans who were on the fence and opted to purchase single-game tickets. Thank you for giving us an opportunity.

Let's look at the William & Mary attendance of 38,094 last month. We sold 8,800 single-game tickets which is the highest for a game since 2014. Season tickets are vital to the success of the football program because it's difficult to sell 8,000-plus single-game tickets on a consistent basis. Our goal is to put 2020 season tickets on sale in January with different payment options and more incentives. We have a great opportunity to reach 40,000 fans on October 26 against USF at 3:45 p.m. as we celebrate Homecoming. If we accomplish the feat, it would mark the first time since 2016 to have that number for a home conference game.

ECU is one of five schools in the AAC to average at least 35,000 per home game (at home stadium) in 2019. In the last three seasons, we have averaged 32,908 in 2018, 36,727 in 2017 and 44,113 in 2016.

This is an encouraging statistic and gives us numbers to build on. Again, thank you. The past success of our football program drives our future.

The support of Pirate Nation carries over to other sports. We are currently selling season tickets for men's and women's basketball. Fans want different options and we are working to add different events and activities around our games. This is going to be an exciting season in Minges Coliseum, and I encourage all fans to purchase tickets.

Fans are coming out consistently to support our soccer program. Earlier this season, we had the fifth-largest crowd in Johnson Stadium history against NC State with 808 rowdy fans in attendance. Through five games, we are averaging nearly 200 more fans a game than a year ago and our current average is the most since the 2015 season.

I can't emphasize enough how much this means to our student-athletes, coaches and staff. It makes a huge difference.

More than 900 fans showed up at Minges Coliseum last week to watch the Pirates volleyball team sweep USF. The 912 fans marked the fourth-largest crowd in the last 15 years and most for a match since 2015. Let's not overlook these facts. I know it makes me proud to be a Pirate. You still have six more opportunities to watch our volleyball team in Minges.

Let me make this clear. Pirate Nation is the foundation of our department and your support is crucial to our success. Everybody matters. Every Pirate Club member is important, no matter what the level. Every dollar is valued.

We have 1,212 new Pirate Club members through the end of September that were not donors in 2018. This has added $370,729 to the annual fund. More importantly, 1,403 donors have increased their donation from a year ago. One of the areas we will continue to focus on is Student Pirate Club membership as we currently stand at 6,386. Student support is vital to filling our venues.

Productive weekend for the Pirates
We had a great turnout on Sunday at Johnson Stadium as the Pirates soccer team battled No. 8 Memphis to a 1-1 draw. Really proud of our squad as they competed against a Tigers team that is undefeated in conference play. Junior Melanie Stiles was named AAC Goalkeeper of the Week after allowing only one goal in 200 minutes of play in two games and junior Tori Riggs was named Offensive Player of the Week for the first time in her career. The Pirates are 2-1-1 in conference play with an upcoming road trip to Texas where they will visit SMU and Houston over the weekend.

Congrats to head swimming coach Matthew Jabs, his coaches and our men and women who swept a dual meet from a solid William & Mary program on Saturday at Minges Natatorium. Pirate Nation showed up in full force and created a great atmosphere for our teams. Both teams are 2-1 on the season and ranked nationally. The men's squad is currently ranked 16^th and women 33^rd in the latest CollegeSwimming.com Division I Team Rankings. Both squads are back in action on Saturday at home as it hosts Campbell (women only), Catawba and Lenoir-Rhyne.

Kudos to our volleyball team as they split a pair of road conference games over the weekend with a win at UConn on Sunday to improve to 14-5 overall, including a 6-1 mark in Minges Coliseum. They are back on the road this weekend with matches at Houston and Tulane. Six of their last eight conference games will be at home so make plans to support head coach Julie Torbett and her team in action.

Cross Country to host Pirate Invitational on Friday
Our men's and women's cross-country teams will host the Pirate Invitational at Overton's Lake Kristi on Friday. Admission is free and we are hoping Pirate Nation will come out and see our student-athletes compete. The event begins at 4 p.m. with the women's race followed by the men's competition at 4:40 p.m. Three ranked teams (Elon, Richmond for women; Duke for men) will be competing and NC State will also have several individuals competing. The address is 3933 Mobley's Bridge Road in Grimesland, approximately 10 miles from campus.

Check out the 2019-20 baseball team
I'm looking forward to seeing Pirate Nation out in The Jungle and the stands on Sunday as our baseball team hosts Liberty at 1 p.m. in Clark-LeClair Stadium. Admission is free and concessions will be available. We will welcome back the 2019 AAC regular season champions for our football game against South Florida where each member of the team will receive a championship ring. We are looking forward to so many of the players returning that just completed their first season of professional baseball.

Women's Basketball to host open practice
Thanks to all the fans that attended the men's basketball open practice last week. On Saturday, first-year women's basketball head coach Kim McNeill will put her team through the paces in Minges Coliseum from 10:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Fans will have the opportunity to pick up the 2019-20 Schedule Poster at the event. Free admission and parking is available outside Minges.

Football program making strides
With a 3-3 mark at the midpoint of the season, the football program is tied for the best start after six games since the 2014 season. We have three games remaining at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium with USF (Homecoming, 3:45 p.m.), Cincinnati (Hall of Fame/Military) and Tulsa (Senior Day). These are all conference games and we need Pirate Nation to create a homefield advantage for our team.

Our staff feels good about the direction of the program under head coach Mike Houston. This year's team is building a strong foundation for the future. I admire our student-athletes who are dedicated to the rebirth of our football program and are changing the culture on and off the field. I know our fans see them on gamedays, but this is a special group of young men who are going to compete the second half of the season.

Social Media
We continue to place an emphasis on social media for all our sports. In addition to our social media, you can also find update information on ecupirates.com. We have all the different social media accounts listed below.

ECU Athletics Social Media Accounts
Sport	Twitter	Instagram	Facebook
Athletics	@ECUAthletics	ECUAthletics	ECUAthletics
Baseball	@ECUBaseball	ECUBaseball
Basketball (M)	@ECUBasketball	ECUBasketball	ECUMBB
Basketball (W)	@ECUWomensHoops	ECUWomensHoops	ecuwomenshoops
Football	@ECUPiratesFB	ECUPiratesFB	ECUFootball
Golf (M)	@ECUMensGolf	ECUMensGolf	ECUMensGolf
Golf (W)	@ECUWGolf	ECUWGolf
Lacrosse	@ECUWLax	ECUWLax	ecuwomenslacrosse
Soccer	@ECUSoc	ECUSoc	ecuwsoccer
Softball	@ECUSoftball	ECU_Softball
Swimming & Diving	@ECUSwim_Dive	ECUSwim_Dive	ecu.swimming.diving
Tennis (M)	@ECUTennisM	ECUMensTennis	EastCarolinaUniversityMensTennis
Tennis (W)	@ECUWTennis	ECUWTennis	ecuwtennis
Track & Field/XC	@ECUTFXC	ECUTFXC
Volleyball	@ECUVB	ECUVB	EastCarolinaVolleyball

Have a great week and hope to see you around campus.

Go Pirates!

Jon

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