As Blake Harrell seeks to put his stamp on the East Carolina football program, he's making a significant move to bolster the Pirates among the high school ranks in North Carolina.
Sources tell FootballScoop that Harrell is bringing aboard Lance Ware in a top personnel role.
Ware is set to become East Carolina's director of player personnel and recruiting, per sources.
In addition to spending the past six seasons in Boone, N.C., in multiple roles for Appalachian State, Ware is perhaps best known for his record-setting prep run just outside of Charlotte at Shelby High School.
Ware merely guided the Shelby program to five North Carolina High School Athletic Association state championships in a six-year span from 2013-18, missing out only in 2017.
Overall, Ware was a part of eight state title-winning teams in 22 seasons at Shelby before transitioning to the collegiate level at Appalachian State.
Harrell enters his first full season in command at East Carolina after taking over midseason 2024 and earning the job full-time with a resounding finish to the year.
The Pirates open their 2025 season in an intriguing, Thursday night affair against North Carolina State on Aug. 28 at Carter-Finley Stadium.