The Pirates announced a $55 million renovation project to Dowdy-Ficklen in 2016, which added a new tower above the south side stands, among other things.

Strength and conditioning for the players occurs in the Murphy Center, a $13 million indoor training facility which was completed in June 2002 and which is located in the west end zone of Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium.

Coach Boone led the school to another first the next season, as the football team won the North State Conference championship.

[10][11] Stasavich departed East Carolina with a 50–27–1 record and was the winningest head coach in ECU football history until Steve Logan surpassed him in 1999.

[44] East Carolina tapped Georgia defensive coordinator and former Wyoming head coach Bill Lewis as Baker's replacement.

[37][45] The Pirates chose their offensive coordinator Steve Logan to succeed Lewis, promoting him to serve as their 17th head football coach.

[57] After the bowl game victory, East Carolina was ranked number 23 in the final Coaches Poll of the year.

[66][67] Logan left ECU as the winningest head coach in school history, surpassing Clarence Stasavich during the 1999 season.

[69] Thompson came to ECU with a great resume as an assistant coach and a reputation as a brilliant defensive mind, working under Lou Holtz at Arkansas, Joe Raymond Peace at Louisiana Tech, Curley Hallman and Jeff Bower at Southern Miss, Houston Nutt at Arkansas and Ron Zook at Florida.

Amid much fan and administration impatience and frustration with the struggles of the football program, athletics director Terry Holland fired Thompson after the 2004 season.

[78] The 2006 team had notable wins over Virginia, Southern Miss, Central Florida and North Carolina State.

[81] On August 30, 2008, the Pirates pulled off a stunning upset against then 17th ranked Virginia Tech 27–22 on a late blocked punt returned for a touchdown by senior wide receiver T.J.

[82] The following week they pulled off an even stronger upset of then 8th ranked West Virginia by the score of 24–3, not allowing a touchdown for the entire game.

The Pirates finished the 2008 regular season at 9–5, winning the Eastern Division of Conference USA and defeating Tulsa in the Championship game.

ECU was then invited to the Auto Zone Liberty bowl to face Kentucky, where the Pirates controlled the first half, but fell to UK 25–19.

[107][108] On December 13, 2015, athletics director Jeff Compher announced Scottie Montgomery as the 21st head football coach at East Carolina University.

[111] The Pirates won their first two games of the season, defeating FCS opponent Western Carolina by a margin of 52–7[112] and archrival NC State by a score of 33–30.

[117] The Pirates were scheduled to host Navy on October 13, but due to Hurricane Matthew battering the North Carolina coast that weekend, the game was rescheduled for November 19.

[129] Dr. Leo Jenkins, President of East Carolina, announced his plans to build a new stadium for the Pirates on October 7, 1961.

Ronald and Mary Ellen Dowdy, a real estate developer in Orlando, Florida, donated $1 million to the school.

In May 2016, East Carolina revealed a $55 million renovation project for Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium, which is a portion of its athletic facilities master plan.

On the second story is the C. Felix and Margaret Blount Harvey Banquet Hall, the Dick and Susan Jones Academic Enhancement Center and the Bill and Emily Furr Lobby.

The Thundering Herd were coming back from Greenville, North Carolina after a 17–14 loss to the Pirates when their plane crashed near Ceredo, West Virginia.

The series started as a yearly occurrence, from 1970 to 1987, but was halted after ECU fans rioted and stormed the NC State field in 1987.

2007 brought the creation of the football rivalry trophy, The Victory Barrel, created in a collaborative effort by both schools' Student Governments.

Charlotte and East Carolina are slated to be annual rivals as members of the American Athletic Conference, unveiled in scheduling plans in November 2023.

[135] The most notable matchup of the rivalry was the 2014 iteration, an ESPN primetime Thursday night game that saw East Carolina score 21 unanswered points in the 4th quarter to take the lead, only to fall to a 51-yard Hail Mary touchdown from Justin Holman to Breshad Perriman with time expiring.

ECU had a smaller program where students completed one year in Greenville and then transferred to finish their medical education at the larger school in Chapel Hill.

The 1973 game in Chapel Hill resulted in a 28-27 UNC victory, but the underdog Pirates' competitiveness with the state's flagship university stunned the media and fans assembled at Kenan Stadium.

2016 – With a 33–30 victory over rival North Carolina State on September 9, 2016, ECU became the first "Non-Power" program to defeat a single "Power Conference" (vs. ACC) six-consecutive times from 2013 to 2016, thereby breaking a four-way tie with TCU (vs. BIG XII), Boise State (vs. PAC-12), and BYU (vs. PAC-12) all of which each had previously established five-game winning streaks against a single "Power Conference."