Scottie Montgomery Officially Announced As East Carolina's Head Coach

After an extensive search that included many different candidates, the East Carolina Pirates have chosen Duke Offensive Coordinator Scottie Montgomery as the next head coach of the program.

Pirate Nation, @ECUAthletics welcomes Scottie Montgomery as its head football coach! #ECUScottieMo #ECUndaunted pic.twitter.com/K3wRAFWVpc

— ECUAthletics (@ECUAthletics) December 13, 2015

Montgomery, a Shelby, North Carolina native, came on the scene late in the search with very few expecting him to emerge as the final choice. Athletic director Jeff Compher and the search firm employed by the school were very secretive from the beginning about their choice.

While he is not the national name that everyone will notice, Montgomery is and up and coming coach that the Pirates see as a long term leader of the program. A combination of his youth and experience at the NFL and FBS level helped the Pirates finally decide to offer him the job on Saturday night.

The official announcement of the hiring could not be confirmed until a board of trustees met on Sunday to discuss and approve or deny the job offer. Once the BOT approved the hiring of Montgomery, a press conference was scheduled for Monday morning at 11:00 A.M. EST to announce the newly minted head coach.

Details are beginning to emerge about the official numbers involved in the contract. Montgomery will have a five-year contract with a $400,000 base salary, $600,000 more to come from other avenues. In total, Montgomery will make $1 million per season.

BREAKING: #ECUFootball NEW HC - Scottie Montgomery @ScottieMo_Coach Full details below #ECU #GoPirates #PirateNation pic.twitter.com/WxHpJixRgq

— Pirate Radio (@pirateradio1250) December 13, 2015

The biggest number from the contract is a $1.8 million salary pool for assistant coaches. That figure is a slight bump upward from the $1,704,800 reported by USA Today for the 2015 season.

Montgomery takes over at East Carolina to replace the recently fired Ruffin McNeill. Montgomery comes from Duke University, a school that he starred at as a student-athlete and again as an assistant coach. After coaching wide receivers at both Duke and the Pittsburgh Steelers, Montgomery came back to Duke and has been the offensive coordinator for the Blue Devils for the last two seasons.

While offensive coordinator at Duke, Montgomery led the Blue Devils to over 430 yards of total offense in 2015 and the #38 ranked passing offense in the nation. Duke scored 30.5 points per game this season in route to a 7-5 record and a trip to the Pinstripe Bowl.

This will be the first head coaching job for the 37-year old.

We will have more coverage in the coming days on this hiring and the new coaching staff that Montgomery assembles.