Ruffin McNeill (middle above) has held 16 coaching positions at nine different schools (plus one NFL team, albeit briefly) over the last 30 years. While an organizational change every 3-4 years is on par with the American average, very few will crisscross the nation and uproot families like McNeill and his college football counterparts do almost four times every decade.
The current East Carolina head coach is one of thousands of college football lifers that have hopped from school to school for the better part of the last 30 years (or 50 years if you’re K-State’s Bill Snyder) and yet many fans, media personalities, alums and others forget Ruffin McNeill is a human being too with real values, real friends and a real family.
McNeill is in the midst of his fifth, and arguably most successful, season at his alma mater in Greenville, North Carolina, and although his Pirates are rolling following statement wins over Virginia Tech and North Carolina, he is fully aware of the demanding 25 years that came before he re-joined ECU in 2010.
He understands how experiences with….deep breath…Lumberton High School, Clemson, Austin Peay, North Alabama, Appalachian State, East Carolina, Appalachian State (again), the Miami Dolphins, UNLV, Fresno State, Texas Tech and East Carolina (again)…have allowed him to become a much better coach and person.
“All of my experiences have helped form my coaching philosophy and beliefs, as far as offense and defense or even how to conduct staff meetings,” McNeill told Next Impulse Sports. “My core values were taught by my dad and my mom.”
McNeill had 11 stops, with one repeat location, before landing the job at ECU in 2010, nearly five more moves than the average FBS coach in this week’s AP Top 25. This first head coaching opportunity, with the exception of a brief stint at interim coach at Texas Tech a year prior, came at the age of 51, almost nine years older than the average age of an AP Top 25 coach.
What drove him to continue the unforgiving life in the college football, one that he first experienced as a freshman defensive back with the Pirates in 1976?
It’s quite simple: “The players and coaches.”
As college football programs continue to operate as multi-million dollar enterprises, those who fuel the enterprises are lost among chatter of TV contracts, lawsuits and glitzy new facilities. Student-athletes and coaches are oftentimes hurled under the bus, hired and fired like worthless appliances and their 80-plus hour work weeks go unnoticed.
Take a gander at the unbelievable paths of all 25 coaches in this week’s AP rankings and maybe you’ll find a new respect for them and their families.
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