The Sports Objective

New East Carolina head football coach Mike Houston addressed the media on Tuesday afternoon and discussed the Pirates' 18 early signees--8 of which will be enrolling mid-year. 11 members of the class hail from the State of North Carolina and 5 are from East of I-95 in the ENC.

PLUS, we caught up with him afterwards!!

The 40th Anniversary Podcast Party for ECU's 1978 Independence Bowl Champs was a tremendous success as new coach Mike Houston chatted with Pirate Hall of Famer and college football legend Pat Dye & we caught up with several key cogs to that special team!

We also caught up with former ECU defensive back and head coach Ruffin McNeill.

ECU hoops returns to action tonight after a 16 day break and we caught up with Joe Dooley and some Pirate players to discuss tonight's game at Charlotte!

The Sports Objective Podcast hosts the 40th Anniversary podcast Party for the 1978 ECU Football team!

Those Pirates went 9-3 under legendary coach Pat Dye and capped the year with a 35-13 win over Louisiana Tech in The 3rd Annual Independence Bowl.

We catch up with then ECU Head Coach Pat Dye, assistant Frank Orgel, and several players!

Tomorrow afternoon (Saturday, December 15) we will celebrate the 40th Anniversary of ECU's 1978 Independence Bowl Champions!

Make plans to be at Professor O'Cools from 2pm until!!! Can't make it?  Watch live on Facebook! 

You will also be able to listen live on BlogTalk Radio and Apple Podcasts.  The show will be archived anywhere you typically listen to our podcast!

Go Pirates

When coming out of Williamston High School in the late 90's, Pernell Griffin was one of the state's most highly sought prospects. After turning down the likes of Penn State to come to East Carolina, Griffin went on to a stellar career that featured him helping guide the Pirates to three bowl games in his final three seasons and 23 wins.

After being named a Freshman All-American by Football News in 1998, the legendary linebacker earned First Team All-Conference USA honors in each of his final three seasons and was a 4th Team All-American by The Sporting News when he tallied 153 tackles as a senior in 2001!

With the 40th Anniversary podcast party for ECU's 1978 Independence Bowl Champion team less than a week away, we wanted to provide you with a little glimpse at what awaits you next Saturday afternoon!!

Whether you're with us on site at Professor O'Cool's in Greenville, watching live on Facebook or listening via our archives on all the places you typically find your favorite podcasts, you'll have a chance to hear numerous stories from former players and coaches who were a part of the 1978 ECU football team that produced a tremendous 9-3 season that was capped with a 35-13 win over Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, LA.

We were recently joined by long-time Pat Dye defensive staffer Frank Orgel, as well as ECU letter winners Terry Gallaher and Thomas McLaurin and we took a look back at that memorable season, as well as Coach Orgel's coaching path that also crossed with the ones of Danny Ford, Joe Morrison, Ray Goff and more!

He also discusses legends Bear Bryant and Bo Jackson, great recruiting stories and more!!

Make sure to join us on Saturday at Professor O'Cools in Greenville or live on Facebook!

Follow us on Twitter @TheSportsOBJ!

There are rivalries and then there is the annual Army-Navy game!

After 14 consecutive victories for Navy, former Navy assistant Jeff Monken has led Army to back to back wins and now the Black Knights will aim for a third straight triumph in the 119th meeting of the programs on Saturday, December 8, 2018 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

We caught up with Army Head Coach Jeff Monken, the play by play announcers of each academy, current and former players and ESPN.com's Senior Writer Ivan Maisel as we received numerous perspectives on this tremendous match-up and what it means to play football for these institutions!

Thank you for listening to The Sports Objective podcast!

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The Sports Objective was at the Murphy Center on Tuesday morning (12/4/18) as Mike Houston was introduced as the 22nd Head Football Coach in the history of East Carolina University. We have Interviews with ECU QB Holton Ahlers, Sammy Batten of the Fayetteville Observer, Jeff Charles, Voice of the Pirates, and new ECU Head Football Coach, Mike Houston.  Like our Facebook Page. Follow us on Twitter @TheSportsOBJ, on Instagram @thesportsobjective, like our Facebook page and subscribe to our YouTube Channel! (Photo Credit: Walter Powell of HTC247)

The Sports Objective was at ECU's Murphy Center on Monday afternoon (12/3/18) for Jon Gilbert's introductory press conference as the new East Carolina AD.

Follow us on Twitter @TheSportsOBJ

Photo Credit: Walter Powell of Hoist The Colours/247 Sports

Only 24 hours after the 2018 season came to a close with a brutal 58-3 loss at rival NC State, East Carolina's fan base was unusually upbeat.

WHY?

Highly successful JMU coach Mike Houston had agreed to become the new coach of the Pirates.

To give Pirate Nation an idea of what it's getting, we talked to JMU play by play voice Dave Thomas and JMU football beat writer Greg Madia of The Daily News Record in Harrisonburg.

Follow us on Twitter @TheSportsOBJ, on Instagram @thesportsobjective, like our Facebook page and subscribe to our YouTube channel.