The Alumni Association hosted the first football pep rally of the year in Harris Field Thursday, drawing members of the marching band, Coach Tom O’Brien and leaders of the football team.

Students Today Alumni Tomorrow provided its members with food and a tent that spread across much of the field while other students joined outside to watch O’Brien speak.

“You don’t know how much you affect the outcome of the game,” O’Brien said.

Over 100 people gathered for the rally, where the pep band and cheerleaders performed before O’Brien spoke.

While STAT was helpful in providing a stage and speakers, Student Body President Jay Dawkins said he would like to make it more accessible for more people.

“Next time we’ll make it easier to get closer to the stage,” he said.

Dawkins said he hoped STAT could play a role in future pep rallies as well.

“They were really helpful,” he said. “Lennie Barton, [associate vice chancellor for alumni relations], did a lot of the legwork to get this going.”

Donovan Beadle, a sophomore in engineering, said he expected more from the rally.

“I was expecting it to be a little longer,” he said. “The band played and that was about it.”

Beadle said more advertisement for the event could have helped more people show up.

Todd Ringenberg, a freshman in management, said he would have liked to see more people come to cheer on the football team and the band.

“Some people probably weren’t really sure what it was [walking by],” he said.

Some members of the band preferred a Thursday pep rally to one on Friday, because the band has to be awake at 5:30 a.m. before Saturday’s game, according to Matt Kollman, a junior in paper science and engineering who plays alto saxophone in the band.

Kollman said turnout exceeded expectations.

“Especially for the first [pep rally], there were more people than I thought there’d be,” he said.

His one complaint was that the band was unable to hear O’Brien speak.

O’Brien talked briefly about the need to support the home team before introducing some of the football team’s leaders.

“Make sure we defend our own turf,” he said.

The main goal was to rally fans before the big game, according to Dawkins.

“I think everybody is ready to kick the crap out of ECU,” Dawkins said.