Since Skip Holtz stepped away from ECU and our Purple and Gold, many have wondered and asked, what in the world did he do with all of his Pirate gear?  Well, after a little shopping trip earlier today, I have found the answer.

If you live in or around Greenville you may have heard of a consignment store called Twice is Nice. This store is located just off Arlington Blvd. halfway between Greenville Blvd. and Evans St.  Skip and his wife, Jennifer, took their clothes to this consignment store where they have been flying of the shelves for the past week.  I, myself, am now the lucky owner of a Robert Talbott $135 purple tie that Skip once wore.  Don’t even begin to think I paid $135 for it.  Each of his purple and gold ties are being sold for $16.95.  Not too bad of a deal.

Two months ago ECU had just won its second straight Conference USA championship and Pirate Nation joined Skip Holtz and the team on Bagwell field for a championship celebration. Fun was had by all, yo ho yo ho. But now that the college football conference championship weekend was over Pirate fans would also brace for the inevitable speculation that the C-USA Championship victory or the bowl game to come would be Skip Holtz’s last game as East Carolina’s football coach.

About a week or so later all seemed quiet on the eastern front.  At the time there just weren’t a lot of high-profile job openings.  As soon as we realized Skip’s name was not being mentioned, Skip’s name started getting mentioned. That same week Kansas and Notre Dame were the only BCS jobs remaining, however as we know, it only takes one opening to make the coaching carousel go round and round it went. Brian Kelly of Cincinnati went on to Notre Dame making Cincinnati available. That may of sounded like good news to East Carolina fans given Holtz’s connection to South Bend but that still meant there were two BCS jobs remaining and Cincinatti and Kansas had interest in Skip Holtz. Kansas felt like their fortune was with Buffalo coach Turner Gill and later that day Skip Holtz would become a top candidate along with Central Michigan’s Butch Jones for the Cinci job. While there were conflicting reports about who broke off with whom and who was tapped first, at the end of the day Cinci decided to keep to tradition by intriguing good coaches out of Central Michigan with the Butch Jones hire. Yo ho yo ho the coaching carousel ride was over; Holtz stays in Greenville and it was time to get down to business with preparations for the Liberty Bowl against SEC foe Arkansas.

Enter Shed-gate. Ruffin McNeill got on the college football radar after replacing Mike Leach at Texas Tech. McNeill was named interim coach for the Alamo Bowl after Leach was fired for his role in the Shed-gate scandal. At that time Pirate fans were gearing up for the Liberty Bowl and the Mike Leach saga was nothing more than back-ground noise. There was talk about McNeill and how he was a former Pirate and yeah, Skip’s name was going to get mentioned but it seemed Holtz wasn’t a top candidate. ECU went on to kick away the Liberty Bowl and 10 days later possibilities turn into probabilities, fortunes turn into misfortunes and vise versa depending on your carousel amusement.

Enter the slap in the face. Between Mike Leach’s Shed-gate and South Florida Coach Jim Leavitt’s slap in the face; those stories would shape the things to come forever for ECU football. Tommy Tuberville takes the job at Texas Tech and subsequently released Ruffin McNeill as defensive coordinator.  Holtz takes the job in Tampa leaving ECU behind and with national signing day looming, in a bind as time was not on the Pirate’s side. Because of that moment in time current head coaches whom Holland was seeking were committed to their staff and recruits a la Rick Stockstill. So the search was back on, the clock was ticking and Pirate Nation waited. Terry Holland did his due diligence and called on one of East Carolina’s own, bringing home Ruffin McNeill making him his choice just like McNeill’s destiny would have it.

Welcome home Coach Ruffin “Mac” McNeill. Good luck and Go Pirates!

I was talking to Capt. Obvious on the phone earlier about what we were going to call Ruffin McNeil when he became head coach of our East Carolina Pirates. We came up with some ideas that were sub-par and all involved words that rhymed with Ruff…and they were so bad that I am not including them on here.

I just came across this gem of a photo on Facebook from Dave Singleton. Incredible find!

Let’s get a list of nicknames going on in the comment section below. I will start after I post this.

Multiple outlets including the The Daily Reflector in G-Vegas are now reporting Ruffin McNeill to be the next ECU head coach.

McNeill, a Lumberton, N.C., native, played defensive back for the Pirates from 1976-79.

Congrats and go get em coach Ruff!

According to Fanhouse.com, Skip Holtz has accepted the head coaching position at USF. Sure, he presented many valid points for being interested in the Bulls but when you are a god in Greenville, why would you want to leave? Vent your frustration in the comment section below. Two questions: who are we going to get as a head coach and how bad will this affect our recruits’ decisions? UNC already scooped up a UT recruit after Kiffin got off of the Rocky Top.

I didn’t think Skip was going to do it. His twitter posts all day yesterday just toyed with my emotions. I know that this was a tough decision for him to make but he made me feel like we had him locked down. I wasn’t worried at all and then was just hit with this devastating blow. It is painful because he has been such a huge part of the rebuilding of our university and our football program.

There are worse places that Skip could have gone. If I had to see him in NCSU red, I don’t think I could take it. If I saw him wearing a Tar-hole hat, I would lose respect. My top choice (outside of staying) would have been to see him take over Lane Kiffin’s steaming pile of dookie that is the University of Tennessee football program and turn it around but Skip just doesn’t really seem like a mountain man to me.

I will support Skip while he is at USF (and wherever he may go after that) and hope that he will try to schedule a game against us so that we can beat them and then point and laugh at him for leaving.

Skip is meeting with the players at 3:00 p.m. est to talk about this. Here is a shot from his press conference which, by the way, looks like no one actually called the press and alerted them about the conference:

What a day…it is sad to see Skip out of Greenville but we have to look forward and need to keep all  hands on deck. Go Pirates! Looking forward to the next steps in our journey to the BCS.

UPDATE: He’s officially gone and has even gone on his Twitter account and posted the news.

According to reports Skip Holtz is emerging as the top candidate for the University of South Florida. The job became open after USF concluded in an investigation that Jim Leavitt slapped a walk-on player. While there are conflicting accounts to what really happened the fact remains Leavitt is out and the coaching carousel stops at an all too familiar place for Pirate fans, Greenville NC.

I’m going to go ahead and call it. With a team that had 28 seniors making next year a rebuilding year, Greg Hudson who doesn’t get nearly enough credit for ECU’s success abandoning ship for FSU and given the circumstances with Skip’s family ties down in Florida; Lou lives near Orlando and Skip’s wife is from Port Charlotte; they met at FSU. It just seems too easy; Skip will be the next USF coach if offered.

“I have gotten a call to find out if I had interest in talking to them,” Holtz said.” Obviously, there is interest from a standpoint of the league they play in, the Big East, and my parents live here in Orlando, my wife is from Port Charlotte. We would have four grandparents right there. There are a lot of positives to it. I think it’s definitely an up-and-coming program so, yeah, there would be interest.” – Holtz

If offered ECU fans should have no problems with Skip leaving. He’s been great for ECU.  I can’t blame him and would be surprised if he didn’t move on to a BCS school especially one closer to his family. ECU fans are proud but at the same time I think there is an understanding between the fans and Holtz similar to the understanding Holtz has with Terry Holland. All or most of the Pirate fans I know have always expected Holtz to leave at some point and would be relatively cool with it if he ultimately does. There would be some grumbling if Holtz left on what could be argued a lateral move and it’s going sting just a little bit more after thinking he was staying put but by and large if Holtz is offered the USF job and decides that’s where he wants to be than all we can do is wish him the best. But let’s get USF on the schedule.

As for the next ECU coach, Greg Hudson would have been my #1 choice…..Hey Florida, can we at least get Steve Logan back?

ECU played about as well has they could have against an SEC power like Arkansas. The Defense was especially stout holding one of the best offenses in the SEC to 283 total yards. ECU’s D also held Arkansas to zero 3^rd down conversions in 13 attempts making the Razorbacks the second major college team this season to win without converting a third down.

Now why we’re at it let’s go down the stat list, offense included and see where the Pirates prevailed; 1^st downs, check. Total yards, check. Passing, check. Rushing, check. Penalties, check. 3^rd down conversions, check. Time of Possession, check. That leads us to TURNOVERS and they are a killer. I thought going into this game it would be ECU who would need the turnovers and intangible play to win but it ended up being the Razorbacks who would capitalize on Pirate blunders for their plunder. Patrick Pinkney through a pair of interceptions in the 3^rd quarter, one I dubbed a “Pickney six” which allowed Arkansas back into the game. But it wasn’t just the turnovers that ultimately sank the Pirates; it was also two go ahead game winning missed field goals late in the fourth and another in OT that ECU could not overcome. For the Pirates the booted football in those attempts was liberty and the wind was tyranny. For Arkansas, the opposite; a 37-yard field goal with the wind in overtime gave the Razorbacks the 20-17 victory and the Liberty Bell was theirs.

Be that as it may,  the “meaningless” bowl games are behind us and once again we should all fight so that the real tyranny that is the Bowl Championship Series finally blow away once so we shall have playoff liberty for all.

Courtesy of a good friend over on Boneyard Banter, NashvillePirate has been kind enough to provide Pirate fans with some insight into Memphis and where to go and what to do when you are there supporting the Pirates for the 2010 Autozone Liberty Bowl. We took the liberty of adding in links to a bunch of these places so you can click on them on your iPhone as you are walkin’ in Memphis…with your feet ten feet off of Beale. Here it goes:

A Pirate’s Guide to Memphis

First off, I know this is a lot of information, but if you have any questions that I haven’t covered, please don’t hesitate to email me. I’d much rather be playing in Memphis and have to answer questions than be playing somewhere else and not be the CHAMPS!!!

Where to Stay

Downtown

• Peabody
• Madison
• Doubletree
• Crowne Plaza
• Spring Hill Suites
• Benchmark
• Holiday Inn Select
• Hampton Inn-Beale
• Westin-Beale
• Vista Inn
• Sleep Inn at Court Square
• Marriott
• Comfort Inn-downtown
• Residence Inn
• Econo Lodge

Midtown - I would think that anything in Midtown would be fine.  It’s a short cab ride to Beale. Make sure you don’t leave anything in your vehicle in plain sight(iPods, computers, etc.)

• Hampton Inn Midtown Medical Center
• Holiday Inn Express
• Red Roof Inn
• Motel 6
• Artison Hotel
• French Quarter Suites
• Holiday Inn University of Memphis

E. Memphis

• Double Tree E. Memphis
• Hampton Inn-Poplar Ave
• Staybridge Suites
• Hilton E. Memphis
• Holiday Inn Select E. Memphis
• Courtyard E Memphis
• La Quinta E. Memphis
• Residence Inn
• Hampton Inn Shady Grove

Germantown

• Anywhere

Bartlett

• Anything off of Sycamore View should still be fine

Cordova

• Anything out by Wolfchase Galleria Mall(first mall you see whendriving in town-G’town Pkwy exit.) Lot’s of affordable hotels that are in a very safe area with plenty of family entertainment.

Where not to stay

• Anywhere near the airport
• Anything in Raleigh or North Memphis
• Anything in South Memphis
• Anything outside of what I’ve listed as where to stay, email me w/questions at mathewscottjoyce@gmail.com.

Where to play

Pirate Club and Alumni Associaition Pirate Party on Beal Street

Silky O’Sullivans

This is the ECU hangout and right smack on Beale Street.

Raifords

Disco bar which is frequented at late night hours. The DJ,Raiford, is a legend and he only plays music from the 70’s and 80’s. It’s probably the best place to have a good time in Memphis outside of Beale Street. Make sure you where your dancing shoes because if your going in, your dancing…

Ernestine and Hazels

Off of south main, it’s more a younger hot spot, but they have a helluva a burger. It’s a pretty cool spot, too, because it’s an old brothel…lot’s of history.

Anything on Beale

If you go to Beale Street and don’t find a good time, I don’t know what to tell you.

Where to eat

Downtown

• BBQ Shop
• Rendevous
• Blues City
• Huey’s (burger)
• Arcade (brunch)
• South of Beale
• Pearl’s Oyster House
• Spindinni

Midtown/E. Memphis

• Bosco’s
• Beauty Shop
• Celtic Crossing
• Café Ole

-I’m not familiar enough w/ each of these places to list what they
are, but if your staying in either area and want to get something a
little different, and not touristy google them and check them out.

Best BBQ in town

Pulled Pork

• Germantown Commissary
• BBQ Shop

BBQ Nacho’s

• Corky’s

Ribs

• Rendezvous
• Corky’s

BBQ Spaghetti

• Jim Neely’s Interstate BBQ
• South Third — It’s in the hood, so lock your doors.

Greg Hudson visits the Pirate Radio 1250 offices

ECU’s Christmas gifts of 2009 include a 9-4 record, a C-USA championship, an invitation to the 2010 Liberty Bowl and Coach Holtz. Yes Pirate Nation there is a Santa Claus and I’d say Santa was pretty good despite those disappointing lumps of coal from  West VA, Va. Tech, UNC and SMU.  However, another lump of coal came in the form of one of our Pirate treasures getting pirated by a Seminole. Reportedly, Jimbo Fisher of FSU hired ECU’s defensive coordinator Greg Hudson. Hudson will take Chuck Amato’s old post at coaching linebackers. A lateral move at best in my humble opinion but I’m thinking Hudson is betting on moving up the ladder as FSU’s defensive coordinator in the coming years. For the Pirates, the defense has been like milk and cookies on Christmas Eve and this move is feeling like what many kids in NC felt while riding their new bike or four wheeler on Christmas day; A cold rain.

Good luck to Coach Hudson, may his linebackers tackle many Tar Heels and Wolf Packers.

Update: According to Holtz in the Monday presser “Greg has talked with Florida State, and a decision has not been made” Hudson will be on the sidelines for the Liberty Bowl. Greg will ultimately decide whether to accept the Florida State job after the Bowl game. Just goes to show you, never trust the press until its official. It could be just coach-speak but I think Skip is a straight shooter so until it comes from Holtz or Hudson himself we still have a great defensive coordinator in Greg Hudson.

Update #3: He’s gone…