Elizabeth City State Football Makes Coaching Change: Marcus Hilliard Dismissed

Elizabeth City State will make a change at the head of its football program.

Multiple sources have reported today that Marcus Hilliard has been dismissed as head coach of the Vikings. Hilliard led the program the past three seasons. 

Elizabeth City State finished this season 3-7, 1-6 in the CIAA. The Vikings won their finale against Bluefield State (0-7) by a 27-21 score and also beat Chowan (12-9) and Erskine (20-0) in early September.

Hilliard has a long history with the ECSU program. He played for the Vikings and then served as an assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and defensive line coach from 2004-17. After a stint as an assistant at Virginia Union, Hillard returned to be the Elizabeth City State head coach beginning with the 2022 season.

Hilliard posted a heartfelt note of thanks to Elizabeth City State, the school’s alumni and his players, past and present, earlier today.

“I am forever grateful for the opportunity to lead young men, both on and off the field,” Hilliard wrote. “Although things didn’t always go as planned, I made it my mission to leave this place better than I found it – and I truly believe I have done that.”

Elizabeth City State was 2-8 during the 2022 season and 3-7 in 2023. The school’s athletic department told HBCU Game Day earlier today that a “national search” would be undertaken to find ECSU’s next head coach.

The Vikes struggled to score points in a number of games this fall. They were shut out by Virginia Union and only managed 6 points against Bowie State and 7 points against both Fayetteville State and Virginia State.

Elizabeth City State becomes the second North Carolina college program to make a coaching change in the 2024 cycle. East Carolina dismissed Mike Houston on Oct. 20.