August 4, 2025 • 11 mins
The guys look back at East Carolina's 2024 season and the decision to elevate Blake Harrell to the full-time head coaching gig.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's the sound you waited much to hear. It's caused
some of your greatest tryout player. It's with a fitter
team today and they win at twenty seven to twenty two,
and your biggest heartbreak.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
MS Johnson bounces OFFUL one.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
He's de up.
Speaker 4 (00:16):
Johnson to the outside, has a chance footprice goodbye.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
It's the option at Georgia Tech. It's Howard's Rock the
smoke in Miami and every Saturday you tap that sign
college football is here.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
So you know ECU team week we started off. Sorry,
Wes's not gonna be able to talk about apparently a
team that he's at least he used to be high on.
I don't know if that changed after seeing the line
against ncas State or just doing a little more research
on it, because that happens to all of us.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Nothing against West.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
It's just, oh, I didn't we do the research during
team weeks. So I don't know if he's still high
on ECU, but I know that he was just a
couple of weeks ago. ECU did end the season last
year quite well, so they finished their season overall at
eight and five, but that was after they made an
(01:16):
in season coaching change. Mike Houston started twenty twenty four,
going three to four before Charlotte just ro outed him.
Charlotte beat the Pirates last year at Jerry Richardson Stadium
fifty five to twenty four, and Flounder. That would be
the last game that Mike Houston ever coached at ECU.
Blake Carroll would take over. And here's what Blake Carrol did.
(01:36):
As soon as he took over. They lose the game
against Army, but no shame in that they were on
the road. Army was twenty third in the country at
that point. And after that loss to Army, he would
go on to beat Temple fifty six to thirty four,
Florida Atlantic forty nine to fourteen, at Tulsa thirty eight
to thirty one, and at North Texas forty to twenty eight.
(01:58):
Those are big time numbers that that offense was putting up.
They would lose to Navy thirty four to twenty. Also,
I don't think that's any thing to be ashamed.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Davy with a very very good offense a year ago,
going to be very good again this year.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
That's how it is.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
And then eventually they beat NC State, Yeah, they did
twenty six to twenty one. Ugh, so ACU clearly a
terrible start. They did have wins against Norfolk State Old Dominion.
They lose against Appstate Liberty and Charlotte. That's what that were.
Excuse me, those were the losses that Mike Houston had
and then they move on from him. Do you think
we're giving enough love to Blake Carroll as a head
(02:33):
football coach because it doesn't seem like there's been a
lot of praise for ECU's decision to retain what used
to be their interim and then eventually they remove the
interim title.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah, there's not a lot of praise.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
There are a lot of people that believe that they
could have gone out and hired a bigger name, hired
someone that is a retread from one of these bigger schools,
and that would lead to more success.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I don't know that that's the case.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Do I think that Blake Carroll is the sexiest hire
that they could have possibly made. I think there probably
are other people that would have taken that job because
that job is a really good job. There is no
doubt about that at this point. Because we've seen how
much success they've had against ACC teams before and even
under Blake Carroll. But I think Blake deserves a lot
(03:16):
of credit for what happened at the end of last year.
And the thing is, you know, I've said it a
couple of times. I think I said it last week
when we were hosting for Colin. You know, these guys
that get hired as interim guys and get the full
time job, people complain and say, oh, this isn't going
to work out. When is there record a track record
of this ever actually being successful. We said the same
(03:38):
thing with Brent Key, and he takes over Georgia Tech,
and Georgia Tech's in the best position that they've been
since Paul Johnson. So I think this could be one
of those under the radar hires from the offseason that
maybe doesn't draw as many eyes as let's say a
Tim Albyn does at Charlotte. But I think think is
(04:00):
certainly someone that deserves a lot of credit for what
happened last year. And hell, if he just continues to
ride with Caden Howser and Howser continues to improve, that
might just lead him to success.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
That's the question that I asked quite a bit last season,
because Jake Garcia is the quarterback they decided to roll
with right out of the gate, and it was pretty terrible.
I mean, he had some decent passing yard games, but
the opener against Norfolk State, he threw three interceptions. They
won forty two to three, and that was just because
Norfolk couldn't score three interceptions in the opener four interceptions.
(04:31):
In that second game against Old Dominion, they still found
a way to win twenty to fourteen despite Garcia wanting
to throw an interception every single time he threw the footballs.
That was seven I iNTS right out of the gate.
He would throw an interception in every single game that
he participated in last year. And so the question becomes, Okay,
does Mike Houston get fired if he just decides to
(04:55):
either make the quarterback change a little earlier or right
at the beginning of the season, go with Caden Hawser
instead of going with Jake Garcia. I think it's a
real question because once Blake Harrol decided to go with
Howser immediately, and by the way, Howser took over for
Garcia full time in that Charlotte game, they would still lose,
but that's when he took over. And then here's what
Hawser did as soon as he took over the rest
(05:17):
of the year. Three touchdowns, one interception against against Army,
five touchdowns, two I iNTS versus Temple five zero touchdown
to interception ratio against Fau and he would turn it
over a little bit as well. He wasn't perfect, but
he's clearly better than what Garcia was saying.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Oh much better, much better.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
The offense was way more efficient under him than under Garcia.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Here's the conundrum.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I think ECU fans kind of tie themselves in a
pretzel over when figuring out if Houston or Harold should
be the guy, or if Harol or somebody else should
have been the guy. If you don't feel like Harrol
is the best coach for the job, that's understandable. I
think a lot of people feel that way. But also,
doesn't it mean that Mike Houston. If Blake Harroll won
(06:01):
all of these games, he got him to a Bowl game.
Five wins, that's nothing to shake your head at. So
he wins five games because of Houston and his recruiting,
does he win because of all the guys that Houston
are responsible or is responsible for putting on that roster?
Setting the defense? I guess up the way that it
was and they scored a bunch of points offensively too.
(06:22):
And was Houston only fired again because of the quarterback
decision that he made, which is key, but because of
the quarterback decision that he made at the beginning of
last year. And remember Mike Houston, it's not like he
didn't have any success at ECU. He did go seven
to five and eight and five before last year. So
do you just feel like Houston would rather have held
(06:44):
on to him if Blake Harroll was going to be
the guy, and if you were going to move on
from Houston, I'd rather go after somebody else. I just
wonder what Pirates fans and let us know if you're
a Pirates fan, but fine tune that decision for me.
If you are an ECU a lum slash fan, what
would you have rather done here at the coaching position?
Speaker 2 (07:01):
What about you? Flounder makes sense of all of that? Yeah,
I mean, I don't know, man.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
I think the reason that he got fired, I guess
was because of the quarterback decision, But I think it
was more of him sticking with certain guys that maybe
weren't as effective throughout the roster and that led to
frustrations from some of the guys on the team, some
of those around the program, and they just made a
decision to go ahead and move on from him in
terms of what would be the better course of action
(07:28):
if when it comes to, you know, keeping him or
hiring Blake Harroll, I mean, I don't know, man, I
don't know if he was taking ECU anywhere special. I
think what they also felt was that he had hit
his peak in Greenville. I think they had seen the
best football that they could possibly play, and they're hoping
(07:49):
that Blake Harroll is gonna be able to take him
to that next step.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
So I don't know if it's gonna end up happening.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
If I was an ECU fan, I would feel like
maybe we should have look to see what was out there.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
But at the same time, you do have.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
To like the fact that whatever Blake Carroll did last
season worked and you started winning games in the AAC. Now,
the question is were you beating up on teams that
simply weren't good enough.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
If you look at some of the reviews from last year,
you see that the schedule did get way easier and
some house cleaning here real quickly Mike Houston actually got
fired after that Army loss. I should say that Blake
Harrell was five and one when he took over, and
so the four losses here actually did belong to Houston,
who went three and four before Harold took over. So
I should make that distinction. Harrold first game he coaches,
(08:37):
right away, they start to win. Mike Houston did go
with Houser right before he got fired. Still, it wasn't enough,
especially when you play a team as talented as Army,
who was a top twenty five team in the nation
at that point.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
But that's the thing. I think that's a real question.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Did ec you just beat up on a bunch of
bad teams as the season went on. If you're out
on Harrol, that's probably the first thing you're pointing to.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
Yeah, I think that's probably that's probably right. And the
other thing I do remember this now with Mike Houston.
The reason why a lot of people were behind him
getting fired. A lot of the guys on the roster
did not like him. I mean, you remember there were
former players that were writing after he was fired about
how this should have been a long time coming. They
hated playing for Mike Houston. So I do think that's
(09:21):
certainly something that factored into their decision. I just yeah,
to me, there, could you have gotten another guy like
Ruff and McNeil. Could you have gotten someone that could
take you potentially two double digit wins, could pull up
sets against some of these ACC teams. But hey man,
maybe that is Blake Carroll. He did it against NC
State in the bowl game. You could ask how much
(09:42):
motivation State had to play in that bowl game, but
they still went out there and did it. Now, the
thing is, we're gonna see he's gonna be tested this
year because here's the thing. You don't bring back a
lot from last year's team. You bring back six starters
on the entire with the offense and defense combined.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Well, oftense, it looks like most of them are offense
right because it's.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
Offensively just too defensively, lost a lot of guys to
the transfer portal, Man, A lot of guys got recruited
off your roster or graduated. So we'll see how he's
able to develop some of these young guys that are
coming up and are going to be playing bigger roles
this year.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
You did get ped away from Oklahoma. He'll work the slot.
This season, you do have what people consider to be
a decent amount of tight end depth at some of
the past catching options are strong, with DCU Howser being
a quarterback that has another year under his belt. And
in fact, if you look at some of the write
ups here about what happened in twenty twenty five, they
described the offense not being bad in the first half
(10:40):
of last year. It's just that it took off once
the competition got a little worse.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
And their defense started creating a lot of turnovers. That's
going to be a big part of what has to
happen this year.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
I think the attack finished twenty the passing attack specifically,
I should say finish twenty fourth in the nation, and
total yards the average thirty two points per game or overall,
I'm sorry, the offense twenty fourth in the nation in
total yards averaged thirty two points per game. That's not nothing. Finally,
Jordan c he writes this in Pirate Alum here the
players absolutely bought in with Harold. The total mood changed
(11:13):
when he took over. So he is a fan of
Blake Carroll. And then aj saying our I'm guessing he's
talking about Ecu. Our best pass rusher is a defensive
lineman just got arrested the other day too, So there's that. Okay,
that's not great is that Raheem Craig didn't even see
that story, so all right, so that's a hit that
they'll be taking. We'll see how they transitioned into twenty
(11:34):
twenty five. But that's how the twenty twenty four season went,
headlined by coaching change and quarterback change. Will both of
those things see the success that they did twenty twenty
five like they did just last year.
It's the sound you waited much to hear. It's caused
some of your greatest tryout player. It's with a fitter
team today and they win at twenty seven to twenty two,
and your biggest heartbreak.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
MS Johnson bounces OFFUL one.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
He's de up.
Speaker 4 (00:16):
Johnson to the outside, has a chance footprice goodbye.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
It's the option at Georgia Tech. It's Howard's Rock the
smoke in Miami and every Saturday you tap that sign
college football is here.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
So you know ECU team week we started off. Sorry,
Wes's not gonna be able to talk about apparently a
team that he's at least he used to be high on.
I don't know if that changed after seeing the line
against ncas State or just doing a little more research
on it, because that happens to all of us.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Nothing against West.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
It's just, oh, I didn't we do the research during
team weeks. So I don't know if he's still high
on ECU, but I know that he was just a
couple of weeks ago. ECU did end the season last
year quite well, so they finished their season overall at
eight and five, but that was after they made an
(01:16):
in season coaching change. Mike Houston started twenty twenty four,
going three to four before Charlotte just ro outed him.
Charlotte beat the Pirates last year at Jerry Richardson Stadium
fifty five to twenty four, and Flounder. That would be
the last game that Mike Houston ever coached at ECU.
Blake Carroll would take over. And here's what Blake Carrol did.
(01:36):
As soon as he took over. They lose the game
against Army, but no shame in that they were on
the road. Army was twenty third in the country at
that point. And after that loss to Army, he would
go on to beat Temple fifty six to thirty four,
Florida Atlantic forty nine to fourteen, at Tulsa thirty eight
to thirty one, and at North Texas forty to twenty eight.
(01:58):
Those are big time numbers that that offense was putting up.
They would lose to Navy thirty four to twenty. Also,
I don't think that's any thing to be ashamed.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Davy with a very very good offense a year ago,
going to be very good again this year.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
That's how it is.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
And then eventually they beat NC State, Yeah, they did
twenty six to twenty one. Ugh, so ACU clearly a
terrible start. They did have wins against Norfolk State Old Dominion.
They lose against Appstate Liberty and Charlotte. That's what that were.
Excuse me, those were the losses that Mike Houston had
and then they move on from him. Do you think
we're giving enough love to Blake Carroll as a head
(02:33):
football coach because it doesn't seem like there's been a
lot of praise for ECU's decision to retain what used
to be their interim and then eventually they remove the
interim title.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah, there's not a lot of praise.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
There are a lot of people that believe that they
could have gone out and hired a bigger name, hired
someone that is a retread from one of these bigger schools,
and that would lead to more success.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I don't know that that's the case.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Do I think that Blake Carroll is the sexiest hire
that they could have possibly made. I think there probably
are other people that would have taken that job because
that job is a really good job. There is no
doubt about that at this point. Because we've seen how
much success they've had against ACC teams before and even
under Blake Carroll. But I think Blake deserves a lot
(03:16):
of credit for what happened at the end of last year.
And the thing is, you know, I've said it a
couple of times. I think I said it last week
when we were hosting for Colin. You know, these guys
that get hired as interim guys and get the full
time job, people complain and say, oh, this isn't going
to work out. When is there record a track record
of this ever actually being successful. We said the same
(03:38):
thing with Brent Key, and he takes over Georgia Tech,
and Georgia Tech's in the best position that they've been
since Paul Johnson. So I think this could be one
of those under the radar hires from the offseason that
maybe doesn't draw as many eyes as let's say a
Tim Albyn does at Charlotte. But I think think is
(04:00):
certainly someone that deserves a lot of credit for what
happened last year. And hell, if he just continues to
ride with Caden Howser and Howser continues to improve, that
might just lead him to success.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
That's the question that I asked quite a bit last season,
because Jake Garcia is the quarterback they decided to roll
with right out of the gate, and it was pretty terrible.
I mean, he had some decent passing yard games, but
the opener against Norfolk State, he threw three interceptions. They
won forty two to three, and that was just because
Norfolk couldn't score three interceptions in the opener four interceptions.
(04:31):
In that second game against Old Dominion, they still found
a way to win twenty to fourteen despite Garcia wanting
to throw an interception every single time he threw the footballs.
That was seven I iNTS right out of the gate.
He would throw an interception in every single game that
he participated in last year. And so the question becomes, Okay,
does Mike Houston get fired if he just decides to
(04:55):
either make the quarterback change a little earlier or right
at the beginning of the season, go with Caden Hawser
instead of going with Jake Garcia. I think it's a
real question because once Blake Harrol decided to go with
Howser immediately, and by the way, Howser took over for
Garcia full time in that Charlotte game, they would still lose,
but that's when he took over. And then here's what
Hawser did as soon as he took over the rest
(05:17):
of the year. Three touchdowns, one interception against against Army,
five touchdowns, two I iNTS versus Temple five zero touchdown
to interception ratio against Fau and he would turn it
over a little bit as well. He wasn't perfect, but
he's clearly better than what Garcia was saying.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Oh much better, much better.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
The offense was way more efficient under him than under Garcia.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Here's the conundrum.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I think ECU fans kind of tie themselves in a
pretzel over when figuring out if Houston or Harold should
be the guy, or if Harol or somebody else should
have been the guy. If you don't feel like Harrol
is the best coach for the job, that's understandable. I
think a lot of people feel that way. But also,
doesn't it mean that Mike Houston. If Blake Harroll won
(06:01):
all of these games, he got him to a Bowl game.
Five wins, that's nothing to shake your head at. So
he wins five games because of Houston and his recruiting,
does he win because of all the guys that Houston
are responsible or is responsible for putting on that roster?
Setting the defense? I guess up the way that it
was and they scored a bunch of points offensively too.
(06:22):
And was Houston only fired again because of the quarterback
decision that he made, which is key, but because of
the quarterback decision that he made at the beginning of
last year. And remember Mike Houston, it's not like he
didn't have any success at ECU. He did go seven
to five and eight and five before last year. So
do you just feel like Houston would rather have held
(06:44):
on to him if Blake Harroll was going to be
the guy, and if you were going to move on
from Houston, I'd rather go after somebody else. I just
wonder what Pirates fans and let us know if you're
a Pirates fan, but fine tune that decision for me.
If you are an ECU a lum slash fan, what
would you have rather done here at the coaching position?
Speaker 2 (07:01):
What about you? Flounder makes sense of all of that? Yeah,
I mean, I don't know, man.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
I think the reason that he got fired, I guess
was because of the quarterback decision, But I think it
was more of him sticking with certain guys that maybe
weren't as effective throughout the roster and that led to
frustrations from some of the guys on the team, some
of those around the program, and they just made a
decision to go ahead and move on from him in
terms of what would be the better course of action
(07:28):
if when it comes to, you know, keeping him or
hiring Blake Harroll, I mean, I don't know, man, I
don't know if he was taking ECU anywhere special. I
think what they also felt was that he had hit
his peak in Greenville. I think they had seen the
best football that they could possibly play, and they're hoping
(07:49):
that Blake Harroll is gonna be able to take him
to that next step.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
So I don't know if it's gonna end up happening.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
If I was an ECU fan, I would feel like
maybe we should have look to see what was out there.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
But at the same time, you do have.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
To like the fact that whatever Blake Carroll did last
season worked and you started winning games in the AAC. Now,
the question is were you beating up on teams that
simply weren't good enough.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
If you look at some of the reviews from last year,
you see that the schedule did get way easier and
some house cleaning here real quickly Mike Houston actually got
fired after that Army loss. I should say that Blake
Harrell was five and one when he took over, and
so the four losses here actually did belong to Houston,
who went three and four before Harold took over. So
I should make that distinction. Harrold first game he coaches,
(08:37):
right away, they start to win. Mike Houston did go
with Houser right before he got fired. Still, it wasn't enough,
especially when you play a team as talented as Army,
who was a top twenty five team in the nation
at that point.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
But that's the thing. I think that's a real question.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Did ec you just beat up on a bunch of
bad teams as the season went on. If you're out
on Harrol, that's probably the first thing you're pointing to.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
Yeah, I think that's probably that's probably right. And the
other thing I do remember this now with Mike Houston.
The reason why a lot of people were behind him
getting fired. A lot of the guys on the roster
did not like him. I mean, you remember there were
former players that were writing after he was fired about
how this should have been a long time coming. They
hated playing for Mike Houston. So I do think that's
(09:21):
certainly something that factored into their decision. I just yeah,
to me, there, could you have gotten another guy like
Ruff and McNeil. Could you have gotten someone that could
take you potentially two double digit wins, could pull up
sets against some of these ACC teams. But hey man,
maybe that is Blake Carroll. He did it against NC
State in the bowl game. You could ask how much
(09:42):
motivation State had to play in that bowl game, but
they still went out there and did it. Now, the
thing is, we're gonna see he's gonna be tested this
year because here's the thing. You don't bring back a
lot from last year's team. You bring back six starters
on the entire with the offense and defense combined.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Well, oftense, it looks like most of them are offense
right because it's.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
Offensively just too defensively, lost a lot of guys to
the transfer portal, Man, A lot of guys got recruited
off your roster or graduated. So we'll see how he's
able to develop some of these young guys that are
coming up and are going to be playing bigger roles
this year.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
You did get ped away from Oklahoma. He'll work the slot.
This season, you do have what people consider to be
a decent amount of tight end depth at some of
the past catching options are strong, with DCU Howser being
a quarterback that has another year under his belt. And
in fact, if you look at some of the write
ups here about what happened in twenty twenty five, they
described the offense not being bad in the first half
(10:40):
of last year. It's just that it took off once
the competition got a little worse.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
And their defense started creating a lot of turnovers. That's
going to be a big part of what has to
happen this year.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
I think the attack finished twenty the passing attack specifically,
I should say finish twenty fourth in the nation, and
total yards the average thirty two points per game or overall,
I'm sorry, the offense twenty fourth in the nation in
total yards averaged thirty two points per game. That's not nothing. Finally,
Jordan c he writes this in Pirate Alum here the
players absolutely bought in with Harold. The total mood changed
(11:13):
when he took over. So he is a fan of
Blake Carroll. And then aj saying our I'm guessing he's
talking about Ecu. Our best pass rusher is a defensive
lineman just got arrested the other day too, So there's that. Okay,
that's not great is that Raheem Craig didn't even see
that story, so all right, so that's a hit that
they'll be taking. We'll see how they transitioned into twenty
(11:34):
twenty five. But that's how the twenty twenty four season went,
headlined by coaching change and quarterback change. Will both of
those things see the success that they did twenty twenty
five like they did just last year.
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