An Update From AD Jon Gilbert

Pirate Nation:

Can you believe only six more Saturdays remain until the first week of the 2022 college football season?

Head coach Mike Houston and his staff have assembled a group of young men that are hungry and determined to build off last year's seven-win season and bowl invitation. It's a talented group and a team that will make Pirate Nation proud. Most importantly, it's a group that loves being Pirates, representing our University and the Purple and Gold.

I have no doubt Pirate Nation will show up to create an unforgettable atmosphere as NC State ventures into Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Sept. 3, but we need your help.

Football season ticket sales, Pirate Club membership, revenue and investment in our programs are all connected. As most of you are aware, the world of intercollegiate athletics is in a state of turmoil with conference realignment. We are well-positioned, but it's vital we continue to invest in our sports programs to solidify our future. We will welcome new conference members in 2023 and they are all investing from a financial standpoint to compete in the American Athletic Conference.

The sale of football season tickets along with the continued growth of the Pirate Club allows our department to fund our 18 sport programs and make the necessary investments so our coaches and student-athletes can pursue competitive excellence. Every dollar matters.

Heading into the week, we are a little over 14,000 football season tickets sold and we hope to have a jump in sales over the next month. If you are a local business, consider showing your support by buying a pair of tickets. Nothing would make a customer happier than an early holiday present of football season tickets. You can purchase a season football ticket for as low as $125.

TowneBank Tower is sold out with all Suites, Loge Boxes and Trade Club seats purchased. On the North side of the stadium, we have less than 200 Williams Clark Club seats available which is our fewest since TowneBank Tower opened in 2019. We are continuing to look for additional premium seating opportunities in the future.

At East Carolina, we want you to have an exceptional experience attending one of our many athletic events. Our staff understands the need for more convenient ways and options to purchase concessions, an enhanced fan experience and success on the field. We talk about it daily and are making great strides heading into 2022. One of the highlights will be the replacement of the scoreboard with updated graphics and ribbon boards on both sides of the stadium.

In six home games in 2021, our average attendance was 36,059 which ranked in the top 58 in the country, trailing only UCF (40,427) and Cincinnati (37,338) in the AAC. Our home attendance average was higher than 12 schools that play in Power 5 conferences and higher than 16 schools in Power 5 conferences based off percentage of stadium capacity.

Why do I write this? Because it's important for you to know we appreciate all of you who attend our games. It truly makes a difference.

An announcement will be made tomorrow on single-game football sales. Pirate Club members will have a two-week window to purchase seats before sales are opened to the general public. Any account that hasn't renewed their season tickets will need to call the Pirate Club or Athletics Ticket Office this week to ensure their seats.

Please call our ticket office at (252) 737-4500 and ask about our payment plan because we need you in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in the fall. You can also purchase tickets at ecupirates.com.

Pirates Unite Campaign
Thank you to all the individuals and businesses who donated or made a commitment to the Pirates Unite Campaign. This is the most aggressive campaign in Pirate Club history and it's encouraging to see the early support from Pirate Nation.

Our long history of donor support has allowed ECU Athletics to have a solid foundation.
The costs associated with meeting our commitments to our student-athletes continue to grow. As a staff, we are working tirelessly to find revenue streams that allow us to fund scholarships, build or renovate facilities and provide for our student-athletes. We are committed to giving our student-athletes the best experience possible.

The Pirates Unite Campaign will allow us to get on a level playing field with our peers as we:

Transform the experiences of our student-athletes.
Strive for competitive excellence within all sport programs.
Improve operating budgets through the excellence fund.
Enhance our facilities and create essential training spaces that will benefit all student-athletes.

We have been very transparent about the financing of all the projects in the campaign. All funding must be complete before any construction takes places. Again, we are optimistic by our conversations with supporters over the past couple of months. Your investment makes a difference on and off the field. I witness incredible accomplishments daily by our student-athletes.

The Pirate Club is beginning to recognize all donors who have participated in the campaign. Check out all the Pirate Club social media channels and information will also be emailed weekly. You can also view the full benefits of donating here.

Facility Update
If you have been on campus lately, you have witnessed the construction taking place by Johnson Stadium and Clark-LeClair Stadium. Work on the new auxiliary weight room is expected to be completed by late October.

The new weight room will have approximately 7,000 square feet of training space, a nutrition bar, indoor turf training area and additional strength coaches' offices. The building will be utilized by all sport programs which will allow more training space to our student-athletes to reach their full potential. The new facility will allow for more scheduling freedom with in-season team and individual practices along with offseason workouts.

The facility is highlighted by 10 Olympic lifting platforms, rows of dumbbells as well as a cardio area with stair climbers, ellipticals and treadmills. An additional 1,000-square foot will be utilized for maintenance, rehabilitation and other workouts.

Longtime Pirate Sam Wornom III to be honored Friday at Pigskin Preview
Coach Houston and I will be joined by staff and supporters on Friday afternoon at the National Football Foundation's annual Pigskin Preview in Cary. This is always a great event with all football head coaches from the state universities assembled to give a preview of the upcoming season.

The organization will also be honoring the late Sam Wornom III with the Distinguished American Award. Sam was an alum, a friend to so many and longtime supporter of the Pirate Club and ECU Athletics. The ticket office is proudly named the Sam and Sandy Wornom ECU Athletics Ticket Office for his passion of Pirate sports holding season tickets for all athletic events.

Since the day I arrived in Greenville, Sam provided guidance and leadership to me whenever called upon. One of his greatest traits is his ability to connect with people. We are looking forward to seeing his family later this week for this prestigious honor.

Dr. Coger, Welcome to Pirate Nation!
We are excited to welcome Dr. Robin Coger as provost and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs. This is a critical position at the University, and we are looking forward to working with Dr. Coger. As I have said from the beginning, athletics must be aligned with campus to be successful, and our campus leaders led by Chancellor Rogers have been great partners. Read more about Dr. Coger here.

Congrats To Men's Golfer Nic Brown
Graduate student and Pirate men's golfer Nic Brown won the 108th Carolinas Amateur Championship over the weekend at Charlotte Country Club. Nic posted rounds of 69, 63, 69 and 71 to take home the title. A graduate of D.H. Conley High School in Greenville, Nic joined the Pirates for the 2021-22 season after transferring from Wingate.

The future of the Pirates is bright because of the support and commitment of our Pirate Club members.

For that, we thank you and look forward to raising the bar even higher.

Have a great summer and look forward to seeing you soon at a Pirate athletic event.

Go Pirates!

Jon

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