Fall Sports Underway

Pirate Nation,

While the weather still indicates summer, our athletics department is in full bloom with our fall sports in action. I hope each of you have an opportunity to visit our athletic venues this month to support our student-athletes.

I have a variety of topics I want to cover in this letter. Let's get started.

Feedback Appreciated
I want to thank every member of Pirate Nation who sent in suggestions, comments, complaints, ideas and stories from their personal experience at our football home opener. Let me assure you our staff met for over two hours on Tuesday and went through every email, tweet and notes from every phone call. We need to be better and we will be better.

We had several positive additions to the fan experience, numerous items we need to improve on, and a couple areas that were completely unacceptable. The most bothersome item for me was our concessions and customer service. We won't settle for anything but the best customer service for any of our fans and our goal is for every fan that visits our athletic venues to have an enjoyable experience.

We will be putting out a more detailed letter next week answering many of the questions we received and adding additional information as we head into the William & Mary game. As I wrote prior to the home opener, we knew issues would arise and now it's on our department to make the proper corrections. Please know we value your input and our expectations will remain high.

We were pleased with the attendance and believe that number will continue to rise. Next Saturday against William & Mary is Paint it Gold, Family Weekend and AG Day. Please go to ECUPirates.com and get your tickets.

Soccer Back In Action Tonight
I hope you can join me tonight at Johnson Stadium as our soccer team battles Old Dominion at 7 p.m. Admission is free for all fans. The Pirates are riding a two-game winning streak with wins on the road at UNC Asheville and VMI. It should be a great night for soccer against an undefeated Old Dominion team and we are excited to welcome 100 local Girl Scouts who will assist with all the in-game promotions.

Please mark your calendar for Wednesday, Sept. 18 as NC State comes to Greenville for a 7 p.m. kickoff. The game will mark the annual soccer scarf giveaway and Club Sports Day.

Volleyball Off To Great Start
While Hurricane Dorian forced our volleyball team to scramble for games over the past couple of weeks, the team is off to a 5-1 start. The squad was scheduled to begin the season at the Puerto Rico Clasico, but the tournament was cancelled due to impending weather. Instead, the Pirates traveled to George Mason where they went 2-0 against Providence and George Mason.

We are looking forward to hosting the Pirate Invitational on Friday and Saturday in Minges Coliseum, our first home matches of 2019. Our first giveaway of the season will take place on Friday night against George Washington at 7 p.m. with the first 100 fans receiving No Quarter koozies which are reversible to display both the Jolly Roger logo and No Quarter. Please go to ECUPirates.com for all the match times.

If you get a chance this weekend, come out and support head coach Julie Torbett and our volleyball team. Admission is free for all volleyball home matches in 2019.

Women's Golf Shines In Season-Opening Tournament
What a debut for first-year head coach CC Buford and the women's golf team. The Pirates opened the season with a second-place finish at the Minnesota Invitational, finishing only three shots behind tournament champion Kentucky.

Hurricane Dorian forced the team to change their travel and practice schedule heading into the tournament. I am proud of the team for their performance during a week where safety was the top priority.

Season Tickets For Men's And Women's Basketball On Sale
Men's and women's basketball season tickets went on sale Monday. We are hopeful the conference schedule will be released this week.

Hopefully you have seen the new redesign of Williams Arena inside Minges, but we have a lot more planned. You will begin to see more branding throughout the concourses and inside the arena. It's a major area of emphasis for our staff as we truly begin a new era of East Carolina basketball. Please visit ECUPirates.com or call (800) 342-5328.

Exciting Win; Difficult Week For Coach Houston
In terms of football, I am so happy for our student-athletes, coaches and staff. Building a program takes patience with plenty of ups and downs along the way, but you must stay the course. Really proud of this group for the work they have put in on and off the field.

Coach Houston had a very difficult week with the passing of his father, and I hope you had a chance to read his note he posted online yesterday. I was fortunate to attend the funeral in Franklin, N.C., and meet his family including his mother, Evelyn, brother, Ken, and sister, Melissa. I think servant leader is probably the best way to describe Bill Houston after hearing about the impact he made on so many people.

Pirates Supporting Pirates
The most rewarding part of my job is my interaction with our student-athletes. We have exemplary student-athletes who work extremely hard to be successful in their academic, athletic and personal lives. It's not easy, time management is critical, free time is limited with studying and team commitments, and these students sacrifice so much. Our student-athletes have a Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) which meet regularly and exchange ideas and address issues pertaining to our student-athletes. They are the voice for all our student-athletes. It's truly a remarkable group and this year SAAC is led by baseball student-athlete Jake Kuchmaner who serves as president.

At our first soccer match of 2019, I noticed more student-athletes from various sports in attendance. Each of our teams always receive support from their peers, but SAAC has made this a priority for 2019-20. They want to build on the initiative of Pirates Supporting Pirates and increase student-athlete attendance at all sporting events on campus. You might see the hashtag #Pirates4Pirates on social media. Kudos to Jake, our SAAC Officers and members for making this an important goal.

Cross Country Season Underway
If you spend any time around our athletic venues in the morning, there's a good chance you will see our men's and women's cross country teams practicing. The teams opened the season on August 30 at the Covered Bridge Open hosted by Appalachian State University. The women finished in second place while the men posted a third-place finish.

Men's Tennis To Compete This Weekend
Head coach Shawn Heinchon and our men's tennis team opens the fall season this weekend at Liberty Invitational in Lynchburg, Va. The team will compete Friday through Sunday. The Pirates women's tennis team opens the 2019 fall season at the Milwaukee Tennis Classic from Sept. 20-22.

I want to conclude by expressing my appreciation to Kellen Altman for his service to the East Carolina athletics department the past seven years. Kellen and his family will be relocating and will be with us through our Thursday night football game against Temple. Kellen and all the members of our facilities staff put in long hours, do their work behind the scenes, and are fully committed to helping our coaches, student-athletes and staff. If you know Kellen and see him around campus, give him a Thank You because he will be missed.

Go Pirates!

Jon

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