GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- East Carolina has hired Jeff Compher from Northern Illinois as its athletic director.

The school announced his hiring Wednesday and says he agreed to a five-year contract worth $415,000 annually plus performance bonuses and will begin May 1.

Compher is a former assistant AD at North Carolina State and athletic director at Western Carolina who is in his fifth year at Northern Illinois. He will oversee the Pirates' transition from Conference USA to the Big East in football in 2014. The destination for their other sports has not been determined.

He is replacing Terry Holland, the school's AD since 2004, who said in December that he would become an athletic director emeritus once a successor was found. He will stay in that position until his contract expires in December 2014.

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