The phone call came Saturday afternoon.
Like a baseball manager summoning a relief pitcher from the bullpen, Maryland president C.D. "Dan" Mote Jr. was asking Randy Eaton to sub for departing athletic director Debbie Yow.
Just like that, Eaton was elevated -- on an interim basis -- to oversee Maryland's 27 sports and $55 million athletics budget.
There was almost no time for the 49-year-old to take it all in.
Eaton, the athletic department's chief financial officer, was asked to keep his promotion private until senior athletic department officials could be briefed on his appointment Monday morning.
"Three people knew -- myself, Dr. Mote and his secretary. I guess four people, because my wife knew," Eaton said in an interview with The Baltimore Sun after a media conference call.
Yow confirmed Friday that she will be the new AD at North Carolina State, effective July 10. Eaton said it was too soon to speculate whether he would be interested in becoming a candidate for the post, minus the "interim" tag.
"Debbie [Yow] was here 16 years," Eaton said. "Friday afternoon, you basically find out for certain your boss is leaving and then three days later people are saying, 'Would you want the job?' and it's like, 'Whoa.'
"I don't know, I really don't. Maybe after a month of being interim, I decide this isn't for me. Or you decide 'I am the person,'" Eaton said.
Eaton has not been an athletic director before, and Maryland is almost certain to consider candidates with more experience. He did serve as the interim AD at East Tennessee State in 1997.
Maryland is expected to form a committee soon to find Yow's permanent replacement. She has recommended Connecticut AD Jeff Hathaway, a Maryland graduate who previously worked in the athletic department in College Park.
In the meantime, Eaton will run the department -- he said his main task is "not to wreck the ship" -- and won't be part of the search process.
Eaton has direct knowledge of the workings of the department. He has handled financial issues, dealt with the media and been involved in the scheduling of Maryland's out-of-conference opponents for men's basketball and football.
Eaton is not seen as a polarizing figure among coaches or others connected to the department, according to current and former department officials. That is important given the history of tension between Yow and men's basketball coach Gary Williams.
Williams could not be reached for comment, but a basketball program insider called Eaton "a solid choice."
Eaton has shaped a sometimes difficult budget process. Last year, Maryland made budget cuts across the board, including in football and men's basketball.
"In his role as CFO he had to deliver bad news about budget cuts and furloughs, and yet there is still this universal respect about the way he did it," said Brian Ullmann, a former senior athletic department manager who is now a top marketing official for the university.
In addition to East Tennessee State, Eaton has worked at Texas A&M-Corpus; Christi, Ohio State and Texas-San Antonio. Before arriving at Maryland in 2003, he was an associate AD at the Houston.
Eaton has an informal style. "He's a straight shooter, and there is absolutely a respect that comes from dealing with people that way. He's a 'grab a beer and let's talk' guy," Ullmann said.