East Carolina suspended baseball coach Randy Mazey for unspecified reasons Monday, the first step toward likely dismissing the third-year coach.

Assistant Billy Godwin was named acting coach, and athletic director Terry Holland announced plans for a national search to find a permanent replacement following the 2006 season.

Because Mazey is a state employee, he can be suspended with pay until a final decision is made on his status, but he isn't expected to be back.

"We will assist coach Godwin in building a staff to provide this year's team with the leadership necessary to compete at the highest level," Holland said in a statement.

Mazey was 120-66-1 with the Pirates, 60-30 in Conference USA, and reached an NCAA regional in each of his three seasons. He couldn't be reached for comment.

With Mazey's departure, Holland now has replaced the coaches of all three major sports at East Carolina. Football coach Skip Holtz is in his first season, and basketball coach Ricky Stokes started in March.