It didn't take East Carolina football long to find its next head coach. After firing Mike Houston from that position just over one month ago, East Carolina is promoting interim head coach Blake Harrell to the full time gig and removing the interim tag, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN.

“Sources: East Carolina is planning to promote interim coach Blake Harrell to be the school’s next coach,” Thamel reported on X, formerly Twitter. “ECU’s board still needs to meet to formally approve a contract for Harrell. That’s expected to be called in the upcoming days.”

Harrell's contract is expected to be finalized in the coming days before the transaction becomes official.

Harrell was East Carolina's defensive coordinator before taking over the interim job on Oct. 20 with the Pirates sitting at 3-4, and the results with him at the helm have been hard to deny.

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East Carolina has won four consecutive games under Harrell, getting to 7-4 on the season and becoming bowl eligible. The Pirates picked up home wins over Temple and Florida Atlantic before going on the road to defeat Tulsa and North Texas.

Their latest victory over North Texas was a dramatic one that saw East Carolina rally from a 21-0 deficit late in the second quarter. A Rahjai Harris touchdown run with four seconds remaining before halftime swung the momentum before the Pirates had a massive third quarter. In the opening 14 minutes out of halftime, East Carolina scored 24 unanswered points to take a 10-point lead over a solid Mean Green team before closing it out in the fourth and winning 40-28.

The players clearly love playing for Harrell, as they have taken to social media to express their interest in keeping him around as the head coach moving forward. Now, they get their wish with this promotion.

Harrell and company will finish their season with a home game against a slumping Navy squad on Friday. If Harrell can get another win on senior day, this East Carolina football team will head into bowl season with a chance to finish the season on a six-game winning streak.