East Carolina fires coach Ruffin McNeill

In a surprise move, East Carolina announced Friday it has fired football coach Ruffin McNeill.

The well-liked McNeill posted records of 8-5, 10-3 and 8-5 from 2012-14, including three consecutive bowl games, but backslid to 5-7 this year.

In the school's announcement athletics director Jeff Compher noted that ECU is just 8-8 in league play since joining the American Athletic Conference. Compher said in the release “our expectations are to compete for championships.”

McNeill, 57, took over in 2010 after Skip Holtz left for South Florida, and after serving as Texas Tech’s interim coach in the 2009 Alamo Bowl.

His best year was 2014, when the combination of quarterback Shane Carden, receiver Justin Hardy and offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley helped the Pirates spend five weeks in the Top 25. Carden set the school’s career passing yardage record and Hardy became the NCAA’s record-holder for receptions.

But when those two players graduated and Riley went to Oklahoma as offensive coordinator, East Carolina took a step back this year.

McNeill's contract ran through June 30, 2018.

As a buyout, he is owed his $400,000 annual base salary over the remaining term, subject to his obligation to mitigate the school's obligation by getting another job. The school is to pay him over the remaining term in equal semi-monthly installments, but the income from the new job will offset what ECU owes him.

For now, ECU owes McNeill a little more than $1.03 million.

Contributing: Steve Berkowitz of Paste BN Sports; The Associated Press

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