East Carolina has made the first coaching change of the 2024 season.
The school announced Sunday that Mike Houston had been fired. The Pirates are 3-4 this season after a blowout loss to Army on Saturday. The Black Knights won 45-28 a week after ECU lost 55-24 at Charlotte.
“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 statement. “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.
ECU was 27-38 in five-plus seasons with Houston in charge. The Pirates had two seasons above .500 and went to the Birmingham Bowl at the end of the 2022 season. The Pirates won that game 53-29 over Coastal Carolina to finish the season 8-5.
Defensive coordinator Blake Harrell has been named the team’s interim coach.
ECU already has more wins this year than it did a season ago, however. The Pirates were 2-10 last year and averaged just 17 points per game as its three quarterbacks combined to throw seven touchdowns and 14 interceptions.
Success has been hard to come by in recent seasons. The Birmingham Bowl appearance in 2022 was the school’s first bowl game since the end of the 2014 season and ECU’s 7-5 campaign in 2021 was the school’s first winning season in seven years.