On the night the school board announced he'd been named the leader of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Hugh Hattabaugh slipped out of the room before reporters could ask him how he felt about it.

It seemed in character for the low-key Hattabaugh, who took over Friday as interim superintendent, replacing the departing Peter Gorman. Hattabaugh, CMS' chief operating officer since 2008, will be schools chief for up to a year, while the board searches for a permanent replacement.

Many in the community know little about him; CMS officials say they plan a meet-the-press event sometime this week to introduce him publicly. Hattabaugh said in an email he would reserve comment until then.

School board members describe him in terms distinctly different from Gorman, who during his five-year tenure gained plaudits for his public relations skills, often handling his many news interviews as smoothly as a TV anchorman.

They call Hattabaugh a low-key administrator who has done a solid job running the day-to-day, non-academic operations of CMS, freeing Gorman to focus on more public battles.

Board member Joe White, a former high school coach who loves a good sports metaphor, described Hattabaugh as "a three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust guy" - football-speak for a player who doesn't make jaw-dropping plays, but can be counted on to keep things moving forward.

"He's dependable. He gets the job done," White said. "He's not going to be out there catching 80-yard touchdown passes, stirring the pot and creating new issues, but he's solid as a rock."

Added board member Tim Morgan: "He comes across as an extremely deep thinker. He's quiet, but extremely knowledgeable."

Hattabaugh, a grandfather of four, came to Charlotte in 2007 from Little Rock, Ark., where he was deputy superintendent. He first served in CMS as an area superintendent over schools in northern Mecklenburg. He was named chief operating officer in October 2008, charged with overseeing everything from school security and building maintenance to school buses and athletics.

Before Arkansas, the Indiana native had been a teacher and coach in his home state, then a teacher and principal in Orange County, Fla. After Little Rock plucked Roy Brooks from his school system for its superintendency, Hattabaugh in 2005 joined him.

Two years later, the board bought out Brooks' contract, and Hattabaugh and other top administrators soon left. He told reporters at the time that the CMS job was an opportunity he couldn't pass up in light of Little Rock's administrative shake-up.

Earlier this year, Hattabaugh applied for Little Rock's top job. In an odd search process, Little Rock officials first left him off the list of finalists, then added him after failing to reach a rival candidate.

Hattabaugh later withdrew, saying the board was split over his candidacy.

Board chairman Eric Davis has said Hattabaugh won't be a candidate to replace Gorman permanently. Asked to describe Hattabaugh, he called him "a no-nonsense, make-it-happen, get-it-done-every-day kind of leader."

He noted Hattabaugh's roles in tweaking CMS' layoff rules to make teacher performance a bigger factor, and in crafting magnet transportation cuts that helped save $10 million.

With Hattabaugh in charge, he said, "you won't lose one bit of sleep that the job won't be done well. ... It was that steady, confident, stable leadership he brings to our school system that led to his appointment."