East Carolina and Virginia Tech played one another in football 10 times in 11 seasons from 2007-17 and were scheduled to play again this year until Hurricane Florence began taking aim on the North Carolina coast.
The Pirates’ decision not to travel to Blacksburg for that game became the source of controversy when Tech athletic director Whit Babcock issued a public statement criticizing ECU for not waiting until the storm got closer before making its decision.
Friday, Babcock retaliated for the loss of the home date by announcing that Tech will not play at ECU in 2019. The Hokies have also cancelled two other scheduled games in Greenville, during the 2023 and 2025 seasons.
The teams also have games scheduled in Blacksburg in 2020, 2022 and 2024.
Babcock, who told the Daily Press of Newport News, Va. that ‘if East Carolina still wants to come up here and play, we will happily host them.”
But it’s highly doubtful those games will be played.
Babcock told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that Tech offered to play next season’s game at a neutral site, perhaps Charlotte, but details could not be worked out. The Hokies’ AD also indicated that the future of the ongoing home-and-home ECU series may have been in doubt without this fall’s cancellations and the hard feelings it caused.
“It had somewhat been on our mind in previous years,” Babcock told the newspaper. “Obviously, with the miscommunication and situation this year, it gave us the chance to sit back and evaluate our schedule.”
Newly hired ECU athletic director Jon Gilbert took exception to Babcock’s characterization of the situation involving Hurricane Florence as a “miscommunication,” emphasizing in a statement that the decision not to travel to Blacksburg had little to do with football and was the right thing to do at the time.
“While this is disappointing, especially from a regional interest standpoint and given our long-standing partnership, ECU’s decision not to travel to Blacksburg last September was based on imminent safety concerns related to Hurricane Florence, which tragically claimed multiple fatalities and devastated many North Carolina communities that are still in the recovery process today,” Gilbert said. “Ultimately, the decision was made for the safety and welfare of our student-athletes, coaches, staff and their families and that will always be our top priority.”
The Pirates ended up playing a makeup game at NC State on Dec. 1 while Tech added Marshall to its schedule in a game that helped it gain bowl eligibility.