East Carolina Athletics Year In Review (2025-26)
July 01, 2026 | General
Pirate Nation:
The 2025-26 academic year will go down as one of the most memorable years in the history of ECU Athletics.
Across all 18 sports, our student-athletes, coaches and staff continued to elevate our programs while proudly representing our great University on the national stage in competition, in the classroom and throughout the community.
We celebrated tremendous success on the field this year, highlighted by Football's nine-win season and Military Bowl victory over Pitt, Baseball's eighth consecutive NCAA Regional appearance and back-to-back American Conference Tournament championships, Women's Basketball tying a program-record with 22 regular season victories, and Softball advancing to it's first-ever American Conference Championship game. We produced numerous individual conference champions and All-Americans across multiple sports, while we also celebrated a national championship from our Cheer program.
The success extended far beyond competition. More than 444,000 fans attended our home events throughout the year, and football once again led the American Conference in both season ticket sales and home attendance.
Just as important, our student-athletes continued to excel academically and serve others. ECU Athletics recorded a department-record 3.38 annual GPA, and for the first time in school history, every active team achieved a semester GPA of 3.0 or higher. Our student-athletes devoted more than 4,000 hours to community service, reinforcing our commitment to developing leaders both on and off the field.
We continue to build momentum in every area of our department. Pirate Nation generated more than $21 million in philanthropic support, expanded the Purple & Gold Society and Athletics Excellence Fund to help in the new era of collegiate athletics, while raising $7 million in scholarship support.
We are also investing in the future of our programs. Construction is continuing on three transformational projects that will open in 2026: the Isley Indoor Performance Center, Dick and Sarah Bennett Baseball Building, and the new Golf Building at Ironwood Golf & Country Club.
Our visibility has never been greater. ECU Athletics produced 101 exclusive ESPN broadcasts while $6.7 million viewers watched Pirate athletic events across ESPN digital and cable platforms, showcasing our university to audiences across the country and the world.
These accomplishments are only possible because of the people who make Pirate Nation special - our student-athletes, coaches, staff, donors, alumni and fans. Your passion, commitment and belief in ECU Athletics continue to drive us forward every day.
We have accomplished a great deal together, but there is still so much ahead of us.
Go Pirates!
Jon Gilbert
The 2025-26 academic year will go down as one of the most memorable years in the history of ECU Athletics.
Across all 18 sports, our student-athletes, coaches and staff continued to elevate our programs while proudly representing our great University on the national stage in competition, in the classroom and throughout the community.
We celebrated tremendous success on the field this year, highlighted by Football's nine-win season and Military Bowl victory over Pitt, Baseball's eighth consecutive NCAA Regional appearance and back-to-back American Conference Tournament championships, Women's Basketball tying a program-record with 22 regular season victories, and Softball advancing to it's first-ever American Conference Championship game. We produced numerous individual conference champions and All-Americans across multiple sports, while we also celebrated a national championship from our Cheer program.
The success extended far beyond competition. More than 444,000 fans attended our home events throughout the year, and football once again led the American Conference in both season ticket sales and home attendance.
Just as important, our student-athletes continued to excel academically and serve others. ECU Athletics recorded a department-record 3.38 annual GPA, and for the first time in school history, every active team achieved a semester GPA of 3.0 or higher. Our student-athletes devoted more than 4,000 hours to community service, reinforcing our commitment to developing leaders both on and off the field.
We continue to build momentum in every area of our department. Pirate Nation generated more than $21 million in philanthropic support, expanded the Purple & Gold Society and Athletics Excellence Fund to help in the new era of collegiate athletics, while raising $7 million in scholarship support.
We are also investing in the future of our programs. Construction is continuing on three transformational projects that will open in 2026: the Isley Indoor Performance Center, Dick and Sarah Bennett Baseball Building, and the new Golf Building at Ironwood Golf & Country Club.
Our visibility has never been greater. ECU Athletics produced 101 exclusive ESPN broadcasts while $6.7 million viewers watched Pirate athletic events across ESPN digital and cable platforms, showcasing our university to audiences across the country and the world.
These accomplishments are only possible because of the people who make Pirate Nation special - our student-athletes, coaches, staff, donors, alumni and fans. Your passion, commitment and belief in ECU Athletics continue to drive us forward every day.
We have accomplished a great deal together, but there is still so much ahead of us.
Go Pirates!
Jon Gilbert
Friday, May 29
Thursday, May 28
Sunday, May 24
Sunday, May 24
