ECU-Marshall 2020 season-opener postponed due to COVID-19 outbreak

By Brian Wilmer -

The ECU-Marshall season-opener scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 12 in Greenville, N.C., has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was announced Thursday.

A revised date and time has not yet been determined.

“We are disappointed we won’t be able to host Marshall for our season-opener, but our top priority remains the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches, staff, fans and our community,” ECU Athletics Director Jon Gilbert said. “Mike Hamrick and Marshall have been tremendous to work with as we work to reschedule the game.”

ECU will now open the season against UCF Saturday, Sept. 26 at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

“We anticipate having fans in the stadium in 2020 and will be implementing safety measures and COVID-19 protocols in conjunction with local health officials,” Gilbert said. “This continues to be a fluid situation and we can’t wait to all be together again in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium rooting on the Pirates. The support of Pirate Nation means everything to our athletic department and we continue to ask for your patience and understanding. It’s imperative we continue to look out for each other and stay safe as we go through this pandemic.”

The pandemic also led to the rescheduling of ECU’s Thursday, Nov. 12 contest at Cincinnati to Saturday, Nov. 14.

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Comments (4)

Looks like the Big Ten, Pac-12, MAC, MWC, all of FCS, division 2, and division 3 conferences were pretty much correct in cancelling their seasons. It’s only going to get worse as students return to campuses across the country. College students cannot stay away from big gatherings and parties. Including the athletes that people think stay in a bubble and never attend any of these social events.

No Larry, they didn’t get it right.

The athletes, at least a P5 schools are getting tested up to 3 times of week and they have medical care that supersedes all but the uber wealthy in our country.

Yes Wes, they did get it right. Almost every school that has canceled it’s fall sports season except about half of the Big Ten schools and half of the Pac-12 schools run a deficit in their sports budgets. So out of all the conferences and schools that have canceled their seasons, only about a dozen schools can afford the testing your talking about. Or should the schools increase tuition for all their students so that the athletes, that are already receiving full ride or partial scholarships, can play a few more games?

Larry and Wes the jury is still out, wait a month or two before declaring victory. It really could swing either way.