Brian Overton has had a whirlwind few weeks. The 2004 Elizabeth City State graduate began things as the football operations assistant at North Carolina and ended it as East Carolina’s new director of football operations and player personnel.

“In this business stuff can happen so fast,” said Overton, an Ahoskie native and Hertford County graduate who did not actually play football at ECSU. “It’s been nuts for about 2½ weeks.”

Overton’s job duties at ECU will include making out schedules for practice and travel, basically serving as head coach Ruffin McNeill’s right-hand man when it comes to the logistical aspects of the football program. He will also serve as the go-between for compliance as well as organizing the school’s recruiting efforts.

Overton, who spent the last three years at UNC, traveled with the Tar Heels to Shreveport, La., for the Independence Bowl on Dec. 22 and returned on Dec. 27. For the next two days, he interviewed for the ECU job and was offered it on the 30th. Less than a week later, he was in his new office working on recruiting with Signing Day just a few weeks away.

“The only kids I can help them with now are the kids I was involved with at North Carolina,” Overton said. “I’m just trying to help them finish as strong as they can on those kids, but I’ve turned my focus to 2013.”

Overton began his career as a coach at his high school alma mater Hertford County in 2001 while still attending classes at ECSU. He left in 2007 and spent one season at Greene Central as co-offensive coordinator, then returned to Hertford for a second two-year stint before heading off to UNC.

Overton admits that coaching is still in his blood, but he is enjoying the recruiting side of things more and more.

“When I came back to Hertford County those last two years, I knew I really wanted to make the jump,” said Overton, who also coordinated the recruiting schedules of Bears players. “I aggressively started working every camp over the summertime, especially the ones my kids went to. I started networking as hard as I could.

“When I went to North Carolina, I still had the coaching bug. I don’t know if you ever lose that. To me, if I’m around the game, I’m OK. When I got into that role at North Carolina, I started to enjoy the personnel side of it. I enjoy the challenge of trying to get a player. I enjoy going head-to-head with bigger schools and trying to outwork them for a player and doing it the right way.”

As Overton gets settled into his new job, he is focusing on the Pirates’ 2013 class and thinking a bit about his future.

“I’ve kind of changed my long-term goals a little bit,” he said. “I do enjoy the college game, but I think later on, maybe 15 years down the road, everyone wants to reach the pinnacle of their profession. For me, that would be the NFL as a general manager. You never know which way it will go though. Three weeks ago, I would have said you’re crazy if you’d said I was going to be sitting here doing this.”