Preparations Underway For Fall Sports

Pirate Nation:

I hope you are enjoying a relaxing summer with family and friends. It's been a busy time for our department as we continue to look for ways to engage our supporters, complete facility projects, and prepare for the start of fall sports. It's hard to believe we are less than two months away from opening the 2019 football season.

Before I update you on the happenings in athletics, I want to say, 'Thank You.' I had a chance to reflect last week on my first seven months at East Carolina and feel so grateful for the support of Pirate Nation, our athletics department, student-athletes, coaches and staff. It's been a rewarding process as we work together to formulate a plan where we can have sustainable success on and off the playing field. Do we have a lot of work to do? Absolutely. But the opportunities are endless.

As I have stated numerous times, total alignment is necessary if we want to reach our goals. Everybody matters at East Carolina University.

We want to ensure every person who walks through the gates at our athletic events has a positive experience. When you decide to invest your hard-earned money in the Pirate Club or to purchase season-tickets, please understand you are helping our student-athletes and the long-term future of our department. We never take your support for granted. When you have a suggestion or concern, we are going to listen. We can't change everything tomorrow, but our goal is to provide a first-class experience for our fans and student-athletes.

Each of you are on this journey with us. We will be together during the challenging times and we will celebrate together after the victories. I'm especially looking forward to greeting our fans in the fall on Bagwell Field at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium following a Pirates' football victory.

Speaking of alignment, I have really enjoyed working alongside interim chancellor Dan Gerlach and his leadership team as we work together to move our university forward. I'm learning how our campus and system operates and how athletics can be beneficial to the overall success of our university. As an athletics department, we are becoming closer and learning more about each other and how we want to operate.

Bottom line is athletics must be efficient in everything we do. Every dollar matters. Every donation matters. These are challenging times, but our staff is full of optimism as we enter the fall.

Again, thank you for your continued support. Let's continue to grow together.

Now let's get you updated on what is going on around our department.

Meet the Pirates
Preparations are underway for the annual Meet the Pirates event on Saturday, August 17 from 4-8 p.m. on Bagwell Field inside Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. A new addition for 2019 will be a guided tour for all attendees through the recently completed TowneBank Tower. Our 2019 football, women's soccer and women's volleyball student-athletes and coaches will be available for autographs beginning at 6 p.m. We will have complimentary posters and schedule cards along with additional giveaway items. Expect to see an official announcement later this week, which will also include information on the return of the Pirate Club Equipment Sale that will begin at 4 p.m.

Facility Update
If you visited the athletics department recently you witnessed the ongoing construction. Facilities will always be a major focal point for our department. We are nearing completion of the new turf football practice field while work continues the new auxiliary turf field located adjacent to Hight Field which will be used for all sports.

We have several teams on campus for the summer working out in our new weight room in the Murphy Center. The area is outfitted with all new equipment and weights while the placement of updated graphics will begin soon. This was a top priority for our administration due to the safety and well-being of our student-athletes. Simply put, the equipment was outdated and the entire room was not visually appealing.

Construction has begun on a paved driveway into the Premium Lot. We had some issues during the baseball season with the weather, and it's my understanding weather also played a role last year during football season in the lot. The parking spots will still be grass but will have a paved driveway to get you to the area. I think it will be a safer entrance and exit to the lot.

Work will begin this week on the new court redesign for Williams Arena inside Minges Coliseum. The project will be completed in mid-August. We plan on providing updates throughout the process all the way to the finished product which I hope you will embrace.

Football Retreat
We are working diligently to improve the fan experience at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium for 2019. Last month, our staff had a day-long retreat where we discussed all items related to football and the game day experience.

One exciting announcement to make is the addition of a Kids Zone on the southside behind sections 9-11. The area will be inside the stadium and will have a variety of activities for children. Our staff is working diligently to fill the area with different games for children of all ages.

Our goal is to have some fan-friendly concessions for the 2019 Pirates football home games. In partnership with Aramark, our provider, we will strive to provide an in-game experience that will be affordable and family friendly.

Football Media Day
Coach Mike Houston will be accompanied by Alex Turner and Deondre Farrier to the American Athletic Conference Media Day event on July 15-16 in Newport, Rhode Island. As I said earlier, it's hard to believe that it's football time already. It feels like yesterday we were completing the hiring process for Coach Houston. We have a very competitive conference schedule with eight conference games – five against the other teams in the East division and three against teams from the West division. The AAC produced two top 25 teams and seven teams qualified from the league to play in bowl games a year ago.

If you haven't purchased your season tickets, please take time to do it this month. We are ahead of last year in terms of sales, but we are lagging behind our goal for 2019. We have some very inexpensive packages available and I encourage you to give our ticket office a call at 252-737-4500.

Update on AAC
In case you missed it, an announcement was made last month that UConn will be leaving the American Athletic Conference for the Big East Conference beginning in the 2020-21 academic year. Commissioner Mike Aresco will meet with administrators next week in Newport, Rhode Island to discuss the strategic direction of our conference. The AAC is a powerful brand, and from the perspective of East Carolina University, we are excited for the future of the conference and the visibility it brings to Pirate Nation.

The recently-signed contract extension with ESPN remains in place and we are preparing a plan internally to facilitate our events on ESPN's multiple linear platforms which will provide unprecedented viewership, branding and national exposure.

We will pass on more details as those become available.

New faces in Greenville
We have three new head coaches that will debut in the fall with Mike Houston (football), Kim McNeill (women's basketball) and C.C. Buford (women's golf). I've really enjoyed getting to know each of them and watching them establish the culture within their program. You can't do anything without building a sustainable culture and getting the student-athletes to believe in the process. As I have told each of the coaches, we want to win. Make no mistake about it, winning is important. But we must succeed in the classroom, graduate our student-athletes, and prepare them for life after college. Our coaches have the same belief and I'm looking forward to watching their teams compete in the fall.

Calling all groups!
I wanted to remind you that all home women's volleyball and women's soccer games will have free admission beginning in 2019. This is a terrific opportunity for groups to visit our athletic facilities and attend our events at no cost. Please check out the schedules below and call our offices with any questions:
2019 Volleyball Schedule
2019 Soccer Schedule

Please come to campus and support the Pirates. Let's give our teams a home atmosphere they can be proud of and one that is difficult on opponents.

Go Pirates!

Jon

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