Ole Miss assistant coach Cliff Godwin has accepted the head coaching position at East Carolina University, the school announced Wednesday.

Godwin leaves Oxford after three years as the Rebels’ hitting coach.

Under his tutelage, Ole Miss finished ranked second, sixth and third in the SEC in batting average during Godwin’s stint with the program.

The Rebels also ended 2014 ranked third in the conference in RBIs (396) and home runs (42), while placing five players on the All-SEC team.

The former LSU and Notre Dame assistant returns to East Carolina after lettering five years as a catcher for the Pirates from 1998-2001.

Godwin will replace Billy Godwin — to whom Cliff Godwin is not related — whose contract was not renewed following his ninth season at the helm of the program.

“It’s an honor and a privilege to be in a position to lead the East Carolina baseball program and serve my alma mater” Godwin said in a statement issued by ECU. “My goal is to provide a product on the field people will be proud of and to develop good baseball players and even better human beings.”

Godwin took over for Matt Mossberg after Mossberg was asked to resign following a lackluster season at the plate for the Rebels in 2011.

Ole Miss will now be tasked with searching for its third hitting coach in the last four years.

“I could not be more excited than to have Cliff Godwin as the head coach for Pirate baseball,” East Carolina athletic director Jeff Compher said. “I understand the importance of baseball at ECU and in Eastern North Carolina, and I believe Cliff embodies all the qualities we were looking for in our next head coach. He knows about being a Pirate and what it means to be a winner both on the field and in the classroom.”