By Staff
ECU Sports Information
GREENVILLE — Former East Carolina University Assistant Football Coach Thomas “Rock” Roggeman died Monday afternoon in Chapel Hill after a year-long battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He was 47 years old.
 Roggeman was on medical leave from the university at the time of his death.
 Roggeman, who joined former head coach Skip Holtz’ staff at East Carolina in December, 2004, was in his fifth overall season as an assistant coach and third heading the team’s defensive tackles before officially departing the program last Sept. 28 – two days after the Pirates’ 19-14 victory over UCF.
 He tutored a total of eight All-Conference USA selections and three league all-freshman team choices during his tenure with the Pirates, which also included a run of four consecutive bowl appearances and back-to-back league championships.
 After working with the linebackers in 2005 and 2006, Roggeman moved to the interior of ECU’s line and quickly developed Linval Joseph and Jay Ross into honor-winning performers.
The duo opened a combined 51 of 56 contests the last two title-winning seasons, booked 35 tackles for lost yardage and posted 11.5 sacks.
 Joseph, who was selected by the New York Giants in the second round of the 2010 National Football League draft after the completion of his junior season, was a two-time All-Conference USA performer who recorded 60 tackles in 2009 – a team-high 13.0 coming behind the line of scrimmage for lost yardage.