CCU plans to play full 2020 football schedule as it weighs athletic department cuts
There is still a lot of uncertainty surrounding the return of athletics at Coastal Carolina University, including how teams will handle coronavirus testing and in what manner games will be played.
But two things are clear.
There will be athletic department spending cuts in multiple forms, and the Chanticleers will try to play their 2020 football schedule in full.
CCU athletics and on-campus classes have been suspended since early March because of COVID-19, and the university has suffered financially because of the pandemic, which will be reflected in athletics.
The Chants are scheduled to begin their football season on Sept. 5 at South Carolina.
“In our situation, our plan is to play our 12 games,” CCU director of athletics Matt Hogue said Tuesday. “So far I think the plan for the Sun Belt [Conference] is everyone seems to be uniform in the goal to move forward with the season as scheduled, and right now it remains on schedule, as do the other fall sports we compete in.”
Hogue said no scheduled football opponents have contacted him requesting a change.
“This is an every day evolving situation as everyone knows so certainly you could have a significant change that affects all of that,” he said.
The NCAA and conferences are still monitoring the COVID-19 situation and may consider a delayed start to the season, games with no or limited spectators, alterations to schedules, etc.
“I think the promising thing is at least right now within the scope of all the reopening and return to play protocols and guidelines you have to follow, we seem to be moving in a direction of getting athletes back to campus and trying to have our season as normal,” Hogue said. “I think there’s definitely going to be differences in how that season is executed.”
Sun Belt commissioner Keith Gill expressed optimism that games will be played with fans in attendance, telling Sports Illustrated last week, “I’m optimistic that when we open up and start playing college football that we’ll do it with fans. Now, they may be sitting six feet apart and the stadium experience may be a little different, but I’m optimistic that we’ll have fans there.”
CCU has announced it plans to have on-campus classes in the fall after the final couple months of classes in the 2019-20 school year were held online. But no date has been set for the reopening of campus, or when student-athletes will be allowed on campus for team-related activities. The athletic department has a seat on the campus reopening committee.
“Provided our competitive schedules remain on schedule, which right now they are, it’s logical we will have to have our athletes back into the flow over the summer,” Hogue said. “What that specific date is, is undetermined at this point.”
CCU is analyzing what health monitoring, coronavirus testing and positive test policies will be adopted when athletes return to their teams, and some of those procedures may be dictated by public health, state, NCAA or Sun Belt mandates.
“We’re very close on all of those aspects. That’s maybe the most critical part of anything we do,” Hogue said. “… I think a goal would be to test everyone that comes through when they return.”
Cuts are coming
CCU president David DeCenzo said the school has submitted a plan to the state to address a funding shortage that could be exacerbated if student enrollment drops in the fall as anticipated, and has been waiting on state legislators to act on it.
Hogue said cost-saving measures will be taken in athletics, and the possibility that athletic teams may be cut is on the table but would be a last resort.
Coastal sponsors teams in 19 intercollegiate sports — 11 women’s and eight men’s — which is three more than the NCAA minimum of 16 for schools with an FBS football program.
“I think you take a look at everything,” Hogue said. “… We know we’re going to have cuts in operations, we know we will be lighter personnel-wise, so I think you start with some of those.
“The last resort for anyone is considering dropping a sport. I think most athletic administrators will tell you that because it involves removing opportunities for young people, removing opportunities for student-athletes.”
Because a majority of athletes in many sports aren’t on full scholarship, cutting sports would likely cut into tuition revenue and student enrollment while saving the university money in salaries, travel, operational costs and scholarships.
Furman University in Greenville on Monday cut men’s lacrosse and baseball, a program that played its first game in 1896, to get down to 18 sports.
In addition, Bowling Green has cut baseball, Cincinnati cut men’s soccer, Old Dominion cut wrestling, Central Michigan cut men’s indoor and outdoor track, and East Carolina announced in a board meeting Monday that it plans to cut at least one sport.
The Group of Five conferences, which includes the Sun Belt, have petitioned the NCAA to allow schools to field less than the current minimum of 16 sports for the next four years if needed because of financial strains caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Looking at athletic personnel cuts, Hogue said, “Unfortunately that’s something that will impact us. You’ve got to focus on the core principals of the health and welfare of your student-athletes and making sure you can support them from a training and strength and conditioning standpoint.
“Our No. 1 goal is we have to be able to service not only our athletes but we have to be able to service the other functions, the running of events and other things that come with that.”
Hogue said the university and the athletic department have already adopted operational and travel savings.
Sun Belt athletic directors have been holding virtual meetings twice a week. “As a conference we’re taking a look at how conference schedules can be changed or altered in a way to save on travel costs. Those things are already in the works,” Hogue said. “We’re coming up with ideas that can reduce flights, potentially. We’re taking a look at our non-conference schedules; are their games we can readjust?
“… I can assure you we will be a leaner, meaner machine come the fall.”
The implementation of many measures is complicated by the need for state approval as a state-sponsored public university. “Any decisions we make will be aligned with what the university can and is allowed to do,” Hogue said.
Returning athletes
Numerous CCU teams feature multiple international players including men’s basketball, men’s soccer, men’s and women’s tennis, and men’s and women’s golf, and there are currently strict international travel restrictions in place in the U.S.
But Hogue believes all students with current I-20 visas will be allowed to return to CCU’s campus when athletics and classes resume, unless their home countries affect their travel. CCU has an international office.
“At this point we haven’t been apprised of any issues,” Hogue said. “Certainly there could be specific challenges based on the country they’re in.”
Athletes from spring sports were granted another year of eligibility by the NCAA. Hogue expects 14 scholarship-earning seniors from this spring to return for another season and they will receive some scholarship aid, though it will be reduced in some cases, he said.
Those returnees may include baseball infielder Scott McKeon, who was drafted in the 21st round of the 2019 Major League Baseball draft by the Detroit Tigers but chose to return to the Chants. He will weigh his pro options, according to CCU Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations Kevin Davis, though the MLB Draft in June has been shortened to just five rounds.
CCU’s intercollegiate sports
Men
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Football
- Golf
- Soccer
- Tennis
- Cross Country
- Outdoor Track & Field
Women
- Basketball
- Beach Volleyball
- Golf
- Lacrosse
- Soccer
- Softball
- Tennis
- Cross Country
- Outdoor Track & Field
- Indoor Track & Field
- Volleyball
CCU 2020 football schedule
Sept. 5 at South Carolina
Sept. 12 at Eastern Michigan
Sept. 19 vs. Duquesne
Sept. 26 vs. Kansas
Oct. 3 vs. Arkansas State
Oct. 17 at Louisiana
Oct. 24 vs. Georgia Southern
Oct. 29 at Georgia State
Nov. 7 vs. South Alabama
Nov. 14 at Troy
Nov. 21 vs. Appalachian State
Nov. 28 at Texas State
This story was originally published May 19, 2020 at 3:19 PM.
