GREENVILLE, N.C. -- While Ruffin McNeill is looking forward to making his coaching debut at East Carolina, his title is just about the only thing new for the first-year Pirates coach.

The surroundings certainly won't be; he is back in at his alma mater, in his home state coaching in the same stadium where he played.

Even Sunday's opponent in the Conference USA opener is a familiar face -- Tulsa's Todd Graham.

The two met years ago during McNeill's 10-year stint as assistant on Mike Leach's staff at Texas Tech.

A few years ago McNeill was recruiting a punter from Allen High School in suburban Dallas. That high school's coach at the time: Graham, who coached preps before he joined West Virginia's staff in 2001.

And while McNeill ultimately didn't lure many of Graham's high school players to Lubbock -- "They had a little tie-in with some other schools," McNeill said with a laugh -- the added recruiting responsibilities Leach gave him over the years provided a valuable taste of what it's like to be a head coach.

"I was used as a guy to go everywhere -- all the kids and all the parents, like I do now," McNeill said. "I've had a chance to practice the head-coaching deal quite a bit, because I went around to every home, offensively, defensively, special teams-wise, meeting parents and those type of things."

At least partly because of those experiences, he was prepared to take a dream job at his alma mater -- the two-time defending conference champions.

Hired in January after Skip Holtz left for South Florida, the East Carolina defensive back from the 1970s isn't worried about any nervousness that might arise in the moments before kickoff because "I've been in just about all situations you can be in as a football coach."

But, McNeill added, "I'm sure it'll be emotional, and I'm looking forward to it, and I'm looking forward to the execution of the game operation. That's the exciting part of it to me -- let's see who can beat who. I love that part of the game. But I'll be excited, I'm sure."

The Pirates will debut their new coach, a newly expanded stadium and a new quarterback against what may have blossomed into a new rivalry.

East Carolina has beaten Tulsa twice in the past two years, including a win in the 2008 C-USA championship game, the first of the Pirates' two straight league titles under Holtz.

"We felt like they came in here in '08 and took it," Graham said. "I think there's definitely a healthy respect, and our players know that East Carolina represents the best in our league for the last two years. Our guys are very excited and very motivated, and it has developed into being somewhat of a rivalry for us because they are the team to beat."

Neither team has the luxury of opening with an outmanned opponent from a lower division, and that has given the league opener an added sense of urgency for both sides.

"It's your first game, but it's also a conference game. It's a conference game that has a lot of implications," Graham said. "In this conference, it's extremely competitive and you don't want to start off with a loss. ... We put a lot more emphasis on being conference champions than anything else."

Naturally this being the first game, and being a conference game, and being the two-time defending champion we're playing, this is a big, big game for us."

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