The East Carolina Pirates are the intercollegiate sports teams representing East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. All varsity-level sports teams sponsored by the university compete in NCAA Division I as a member of Conference USA. In football, the Pirates, as do all other C-USA members, play in the top-tier Division I Football Bowl Subdivision.

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Name origin

Pirates have long been associated with the North Carolina coast. One of the most famous pirates, Blackbeard, resided in the North Carolina coastal communities of Bath, Beaufort and Ocracoke. ^[1] The modern day mascot is based on the description of Blackbeard. ^[2] Many other pirates used the shallow coast and Outer Banks to evade capture. ECU officially became the Pirates in 1934. In 1983, a contest was developed to name the Pirates. Children from all over Pitt County submitted their ideas, and Pee Dee the Pirate was chosen. The Pee Dee River is a river along the North Carolina and South Carolina border where pirates often set up camp. The name was less than popular with ECU students, and in 1985 Chancellor Howell decided on his own to drop "Pee Dee" and be known only as "The Pirates". People still use the terms Pee Dee and Petey as the terms for The Pirates. ^[3]

Color origin

One of the first order of business once students arrived to East Carolina in 1909 was to decide on colors for the school. The students voted and Old Gold and Royal Purple won. ECU has been purple and gold ever since.

Men's Basketball

The Pirates appeared in the NAIA National Tournament two years (1953 and 1954), each year losing in the first round. The Pirates combined record in the NAIA was 2-2. The Pirates have also made two appearances in the NCAA Tournament, with the latest appearance occurring in 1993 where they played the North Carolina Tar Heels. East Carolina has had four players to reach the NBA level, Theodore "Blue" Edwards, who was selected by the Utah Jazz with the 21st overall pick of the 1989 NBA Draft, Oliver Mack who was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers as the third pick in the second round of the 1979 NBA Draft, George Maynor, who was selected by the Chicago Bulls as the sixth pick in the fourth round of the 1979 NBA Draft, and Charles Alford, who was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers as the ninth pick in the tenth round of the 1968 NBA Draft.

The Pirates are currently coached by Mack McCarthy.

Football

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The ECU Pirates football team plays its home games at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on the ECU campus. Football started in 1932 and the Pirates have been to 12 bowl games. In 2006 the Pirates ended the year with a 7-5 record and were invited to the Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, Alabama. The head coach of the Pirates is Skip Holtz. Nineteen Pirate student-athletes have been honored as football All-Americans in addition to other awards. ECU has had 52 players selected in the NFL Draft since 1961. The Pirates have had at least one player chosen in 12 of the past 16 NFL drafts with two first round selections. The No. 24 overall pick in the 1992 and 2008 drafts. ECU has produced eight players who have played in 11 Super Bowls dating back to 1985. Five of those Pirates have won World Championships. In 2007, ECU was chosen to play in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl against the Boise State Broncos. The Pirates stunned the #24 ranked Broncos, quelling a late Broncos-rally, on a game-winning field goal 41-38. Runningback Chris Johnson was the game's most valuable player, setting an NCAA record by gathering 407 all-purpose yards. In the 2007-2008 season, ECU produced upset victories over #17 Virginia Tech and #8 West Virginia. The Pirates rode the wave all the way to their first C-USA championship by beating Tulsa, only to lose a heartbreaker to Kentucky in the Liberty Bowl.

Swimming and diving

The men's team started in the 1953-54 season and the women's team started in the 1977-78 season. In 1957, the men's swimming and diving team became the first team at ECU to win a national championship. Over the years, 87 ECU swimmers and divers have been All-Americans. The men's teams were Conference Champions in 1986 and 1989 in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). The women's team won conference championships in 1995 through 1997 and 2000 in the CAA; 2001 in the East Coast Athletic Conference; and 2003 in C-USA. The head coach is Rick Kobe. The assistant coaches are Matt Jabs and Steve Parsons, while Rich MacDonald serves as the head diving coach.

Baseball

The ECU baseball team is a Division I NCAA program that competes in Conference USA. The men's baseball team currently plays at Clark-LeClair Stadium on campus. The Pirate baseball team has consistently finished with a winning record over the past several years. They have been regular season conference champions 12 times and conference tournament champions 10 times. The Pirates have gone to the NCAA Tournament 22 times, including in 2007. The Pirates have appeared in 22 NCAA Baseball Regional tournaments (including seven straight between 1999 and 2005), two NCAA Baseball Super Regional appearances, one Conference USA regular-season championship, and have won 40+ games in five of the last seven seasons. Over the years, 15 players have been honored as All-Americans, over 100 former players have played in the Major Leagues, and in 1962 the Diamond Bucs won the NAIA National Championship. See . The current coach is Billy Godwin.

Other

Additional Varsity Men's teams include: Cross Country, Golf, Hockey, Tennis and Track and Field. Other Varsity Women's teams include: Basketball, Cross Country, Golf, Soccer, Softball, Tennis, Track and Field and Volleyball.