East Carolina’s football program, like every other athletic program at ECU, wants to win a conference championship, and if possible, a national championship.
In hopes of winning an American Athletic Conference championship, ECU fired its former head football coach, Ruffin McNeill, on December 4, 2015 because McNeill’s coaching wasn’t going in that direction, according to statements made by ECU’s Director of Athletics Jeff Compher during the press conference the day of the firing.
“However, after observing and evaluating the [head coach] position for three seasons, we came to the conclusion that our football team was not meeting competitive expectations, and--in my opinion--the trajectory of the program was not going in the right direction,” Compher said in that press briefing.