By Staff
Commentary by BRIAN HAINESSports Writer
GREENVILLE – Last Friday morning East Carolina University officially announced that former Texas Tech defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill would be Skip Holtz’s successor.
The 51-year old McNeill served as an assistant on Mike Leach’s staff for 10 years, and was the defensive coordinator for the Red Raiders the last two seasons. McNeill also played defensive back for the Pirates from 1976-80, and was the team captain for two years.
East Carolina athletics director Terry Holland said he preferred to hire an established head coach with a lengthy resume but, with the timing of Holtz’s departure, the list of applicants shrank by the minute.
If the Pirates were going to roll the dice on a defensive assistant, they should have at least looked in their own backyard first.
Holtz wasn’t the only quality coach to head to Florida this season. Shortly before the popular skipper’s departure to USF, defensive coordinator Greg Hudson took a gig with Florida State as the Seminoles linebackers coach.
Hudson may not be an alum, but he’s been around since 2005 and has coached the team’s most successful unit in that time span.
Hudson has all the makings of a good coach. He has a fiery personality, he is only 42 years old, and has been coaching at the college level since 1990.
He has a brisk, but funny personality which at times has the potential to rub people the wrong way, but that doesn’t mean he would not have been a good fit.
That is not to say McNeill was a bad hire or should not have gotten the job. He did guide Texas Tech to the fifth-ranked defense in the offensive-heavy Big 12
The level of interest on both Hudson’s side and East Carolina’s was hard to gauge since the hiring process began, but having Hudson come in for an interview would have benefited everyone involved.
From the Pirates standpoint, interviewing Hudson would have shown the fans that ECU gave a popular assistant a shot, and who knows, maybe he could have wowed in an interview the same way Holtz did. At the very least it would have been a tip of the cap to a person who has given the program five good years of work.
It also would have made sense for Hudson to want to come in and be interviewed. Being linked to the ECU position would have no doubt raised his profile.
Last Wednesday, Holland politely declined to comment on Hudson and the next day word got out that McNeill would be the new skipper.
Florida State football Sports Information Director Thomas Roberts said last week that the school could neither confirm or deny Hudson’s interest in the position. Roberts also added that the linebackers coach was out recruiting for the school at the time.
During the Pirates’ two Conference USA title-winning seasons, their defense has largely been considered the backbone of the team.
In 2005 East Carolina’s pass defense ranked in the top 20 in the country allowing 184.9 yards per game. In 2006 Hudson’s defense allowed a mere 20.8 points per game; in 2007 the Pirates forced 31 turnovers and finished the season ranking fourth nationally in plus/minus ratio, while in 2008 ECU was tops in total defense despite tons of injuries.
Just about every time one of those run-and-gun C-USA West team’s locked horns with the Pirates, ECU came out on top.
This season alone Hudson’s defense clinched victories by snuffing out last-minute rallies by Appalachian State, UCF, Southern Miss and Houston in the Conference USA title game. Not to mention a sound performance at the Liberty Bowl against Arkansas, to go along with stout efforts versus Virginia Tech this season and last season.
Hudson’s signature moment came in 2008, when the Pat White-led, eighth-ranked Mountaineers came into Greenville and got completely shut down in the Pirates 24-3 rout of West Virginia.
Hiring Hudson would have likely kept some of the current recruiting pipelines intact, and if former offensive coordinator Steve Shankwieler stayed on to run the offense, the move would have kept the current players from having to learn an entirely new system.
If that scenario were to take place, ECU would have entered next season having two coaches who were already extremely familiar with all the Conference USA opponents offenses and defenses.
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Brian Haines is a sports writer for the Washington Daily News. You may reach him at 940-4216 or by e-mail at Brian@wdnweb.com.