Once, Ruffin McNeill’s wardrobe was filled with purple and gold, and his sideline vantage point at Carter-Finley Stadium came with one mission: beat N.C. State. A 2021 inductee into East Carolina’s Hall of Fame, McNeill helped the Pirates notch wins over the Wolfpack in 1976 and 1977 as a player, and again in 2010 and 2013 as a coach.
On Thursday, though, McNeill will meet his alma mater and former team with a very different goal — this time dressed in red and white.
“I respect East Carolina. It’s been a part of my life for a long time, but I work at N.C. State now,” McNeill said last week. “I’ve got some former players on their staff, but each game is a competition. The fact that I’ve coached there and played there makes it look different.”
Sophomore quarterback CJ Bailey said Ruffin McNeill rarely brings up East Carolina — or any opponent, for that matter. His focus is squarely on the Pack. Still, the players are well aware of his ties to the Pirates.
“It motivates me a lot, because I know Coach Ruff wants that win,” Bailey said at ACC Kickoff.
‘An honor’ to work with Pack
McNeill is entering his sixth season as special assistant to head coach Dave Doeren, a role created by athletic director Boo Corrigan after McNeill returned home to North Carolina to help care for his late father.
“It’s been an honor to work for Dave and work with him,” McNeill said. “Dave is the winningest coach in N.C. State history and one of the best men I’ve worked for in my 46 years. He really is. People throw ‘family’ around a lot, but when I say we’re family, we are. I think the world of him and Miss Sara and the boys, and he thinks the world of Erlene and my girls.”
The Doeren-McNeill connection stretches back to 1999. At the time, McNeill was an assistant at Fresno State and Doeren a graduate assistant at USC. They bonded over the game, their passion for teaching, and their respect for young coaches. The friendship endured as they moved through the coaching ranks — sometimes competing head-to-head in the Big 12, with McNeill at Texas Tech and Doeren at Kansas, and other times simply keeping in touch from afar.
When McNeill returned to Greenville as ECU’s head coach in 2010, their careers crossed again. He led the Pirates to a 42-34 record over six seasons, four bowl appearances, a 10-win campaign in 2013, and victories over both N.C. State and North Carolina. He also made a career-defining hire, naming then-unknown Lincoln Riley his offensive coordinator. Riley, now head coach at USC, has credited McNeill with giving him his first major opportunity.
Despite the success, ECU fired McNeill in 2015 after a 5-7 season — a decision Doeren once called “the biggest mistake ever made” by the school. The Pirates went through multiple head coaches in the years that followed before promoting Blake Harrell at the end of the 2024 season.
McNeill looks back on his tenure with gratitude rather than regret.
“It’s something that doesn’t happen all the time, but it did for me. It’s called a blessing,” he said. “Sometimes you get a ‘God wink,’ when you get a chance to coach at your alma mater. All of my coaching stops have been fantastic. I’ve enjoyed coaching, I’ve enjoyed teaching, and the camaraderie of the staffs at every school I’ve been fortunate enough to work at.”
Moving forward
After ECU, McNeill spent a season at Virginia and three more at Oklahoma with Riley before returning home. He thought retirement was next. Instead, Doeren offered a role that gave him both flexibility to be with family and the chance to stay close to the game he’s poured decades into.
“We’re so fortunate to have him here,” Doeren said last August. “He’s a national treasure, in my opinion — in so many ways. His coaching knowledge, the way he treats people, his humanity, his love for others, not just players and coaches. He’s a great human being. I love being around him. It’s awesome for me to be able to walk into his office, sit on the couch, and just talk.”
Those conversations range from family life to game prep, player development, and even the “pain points” of the job, as Doeren put it. For the head coach, McNeill is both a trusted “second set of eyes” and a steady mentor to coaches and players alike.
At practice, McNeill is a constant presence — greeting players with encouragement, offering guidance, or simply sharing a laugh. His open-door policy extends to everyone in the program.
“If Coach Doeren is not there, Coach Ruff is going to be the guy,” Bailey said. “I talk to Coach Ruff almost every day, because he has knowledge. He’s been around a very long time.”
Not done yet
For Ruffin McNeill, North Carolina has always been home. He grew up in Lumberton — just an hour and a half south of Carter-Finley Stadium — the son of two teachers. His father, the late Ruffin McNeill Sr., also coached football, a path his son would eventually follow.
As a kid, McNeill played football, basketball and baseball, never choosing a favorite. “All three,” he said. But football ultimately won out when East Carolina offered him a scholarship. With that opportunity, McNeill became the first Black athlete from Lumberton High School to sign with a Division I football program.
From 1976 to 1980, he played under legendary coach Pat Dye Sr., making lifelong friendships and winning plenty along the way. His Pirate career included a Southern Conference title in 1976 and a victory in the 1978 Independence Bowl over Louisiana Tech.
After his playing days ended, McNeill stayed close to the game. He assisted the ECU staff during spring ball in 1981 before returning to Lumberton High School, where he served as an assistant football coach, head basketball coach, and track coach.
“I enjoyed it. Then as I stayed in it, I had an interest in giving college coaching a try,” McNeill said. “That’s when I got into Clemson and started my college path at that time.”
While earning his master’s degree in counseling at Clemson, McNeill worked as a graduate assistant for the Tigers — the start of a college coaching career that would span nearly five decades. His stops included Austin Peay, North Alabama, Appalachian State, and UNLV, along with the more well-known chapters that followed.
Despite all he’s accomplished, McNeill doesn’t feel as though he’s “arrived.” Football, to him, is still a classroom.
“I strive for learning every day, and at every stop I’ve learned,” he said. “Here, I learn something every day — about myself, about the team, about the people I’m working with. I just want to keep getting better as a coach and as a person, and help others along the way.”
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