wouldn't drive through at night either. But I wouldn't say that the football team are a bunch of 'thugs" based on that 1/4 of the town. 99/100 of the players were recruited from outside of Greenville, with 50% coming from outside of NC.
Did you drive through the campus? - It is actually a nice campus.
Did you drive by the athletic facilities (Stadium, Ballpark, Soccerplex...). Very nice facilities considering they are not P5 and have never had the kind of funding/$$ that universities from big conferences usually generate.
While my family and I have only lived in Eastern North Carolina for a just over 5 years, I have grown to appreciate the diversity that comes from being connected to a place like this.

Not sure who you talked with (Big ECU fans?) - but I've lived in 5 different cities with universities and the students/people at each place (minus BYU) say their school is one of the BIGGEST party schools in the country....I don't see ECU being any different than most.

Calling ECU players thugs based on a part of the city where the university sits would be like me saying that Weber State players are a bunch of thugs because WSU is located in Ogden, where there is a bunch of gang violence and there are parts of the city you wouldn't want to be in late at night. (I know - My mother lives in N. Odgen)
Provo has a part of town I tried to avoid when I lived there. My older brother has lived the last 20 years right around that area. Low income, higher crime.
There are parts of SLC that I wouldn't go through at night (i.e. Magna or close to downtown...).

Bottom line - Over the years, I personally know several of the ECU players and those I know are pretty good kids. Many of the current and past players I know are actually playing D1 football because they had to actively avoid the gang life and the thug-life. Some of these kids come from extremely poor homes, but are very religious mamma boys. I've learned a lot from them regarding their culture and backgrounds. Your daughter might not have known this, but several of the counties in Eastern North Carolina are some of the poorest rural counties in the US. - easily within the top 5. Based on my experiences, I don't think the ECU players are any different than those who are at UNC, NCSU, VT, USC, UG, GT.

I am 100% a BYU fan and always will be. But I also follow ECU very closely. I plan to go out to the BYU-ECU game and I think it will be closer than a lot of BYU fans think. ECU has a decent team and will be prepared. Their downfall will be altitude and size - - but not effort. Many here think BYU is the toughest game on the schedule and that is with Virginia Tech at home and at Florida on their schedule.

I just hope that now after I wrote all of this, ECU players do not start a huge fight in Provo and actually act THUGGISH. Then you can come back and tell me - TOLD YOU SO!!!!! (Let's hope that doesn't happen)!!

Finally, I'm now hoping that the country doesn't think BYU players are a bunch of THUGS strictly based on our last bowl game. But they have actually SEEN their stupid behavior on TV last December (i.e. Nacua), so there is some evidence of it. But I'm also hopeful that we don't have that THUG label a because I don't think all of the players or the program deserves it.

BTW - Hope your daughter enjoyed her mission. If she was in the Kinston Stake, serving in or around Greenville, my family probably had her over to our home for dinner once or twice.