Blake Harrell, East Carolina’s defensive coordinator and interim head coach, will be ECU’s head coach beyond this season, according to multiple reports.
Harrell became the team’s interim head coach a month ago after Mike Houston was fired. ECU was 3-4 at the time.
But since then, Harrell has led the Pirates (7-4, 5-2 AAC) to four straight victories. They defeated Temple, FAU, and North Texas by double digits and won at Tulsa 38-31 a couple weeks ago as well.
Harrell had been ECU’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach since 2020. He was at Kennesaw State, which was in the FCS at the time, before that.
ECU ends the regular season this week against Navy at home before playing in its bowl game.
Mike Houston Fired
East Carolina appeared to have potential to be one of the better teams in the AAC under Houston.
The Pirates had started the 2024 season 2-0 and also were able to beat UTSA. However, ECU lost four of its next five games. The Pirates’ last two losses during that stretch were blowouts against Charlotte and Army.
“After a comprehensive evaluation of our football program, I informed Mike Houston this morning that we are making a change in leadership,” ECU athletic director Jon Gilbert said in a press release a month ago. “This was a very difficult decision. Mike has led our program the last five plus seasons with tremendous class and has positively impacted so many student-athletes. After earning back-to-back bowl invitations, we looked poised for continued success. Unfortunately, we have not seen the results we all want, and a change is needed to move the program forward. We have high expectations and those are not changing.
“We are confident we will identify the right leader for our football program. I believe ECU is a premier job with a passionate fan base, unprecedented support from our Pirate Club donors, and great facilities that continue to improve. Right now, we are focusing on our student-athletes as they compete for a postseason opportunity in the final five regular season games. My hope is Pirate Nation will rally around our student-athletes like they have always done.”
With Houston out, that opened the door for Harrell to lead ECU.
