National Collegiate Athletic Association

NCAA News Archive - 2010

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Jan 22, 2010 9:48:38 AM

Former longtime Texas Tech assistant coach Ruffin McNeill was hired as head coach at East Carolina on Thursday, becoming the 15th ethnic minority to take charge of a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision program.

He is the 28th minority head football coach at a non-historically black institution in all three NCAA divisions.

McNeill takes over at his alma mater after 10 seasons in Lubbock, including the last two and a half as defensive coordinator. He also guided the Red Raiders to a win in the 2010 Valero Alamo Bowl as interim head coach after Mike Leach was released.

McNeill also was an assistant coach at Austin Peay, North Alabama and Appalachian State. He was East Carolina's defensive line coach in 1992. He began his collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant at Clemson during the 1985-86 season.

A four-year letter-winner from 1976-80 and three-year starter at defensive back for East Carolina, McNeill was a two-time team captain and a member of the 1976 Southern Conference championship squad. He graduated from East Carolina in 1980 and earned a master's degree in counseling from Clemson in 1987.

Minority football coaches at NCAA institutions
As of January 22, 2010; historically black colleges and universities excluded