How Coastal Carolina, USC’s first opponent, is managing uncertainty as SEC news looms
Coastal Carolina athletic director Matt Hogue delivered a nice summation in the midst of an ever-changing scramble that has become college football’s sprint to organize a season during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We will find the finish line,” Hogue said Wednesday evening.
The question for his Sun Belt program still looms: Does it come out on the right or wrong side of the line when it comes to a game with in-state Power 5 South Carolina? It’s a contest that could account for a hefty portion of the department’s revenues.
Late Wednesday afternoon, Sports Illustrated reported the athletic directors of the SEC voted for a 10-game conference-only schedule. There are still more steps — SEC school presidents must approve any plans — and the situation remains fluid. If that plan happens, the $1.4 million the Gamecocks are set to pay the Chanticleers is very much in limbo.
It’s a situation that’s dragged on, for much of the pandemic.
“We’re reaching time milestones for how the season will look or how the season will set up,” Hogue said. “I don’t know that my concern level has changed in terms of being able to play a full schedule, regardless of any particular game. We’re getting to the point where actions will have to be taken and you’ll have to work with the consequences.”
He held fast to the fact that at that moment, the Sept. 5 game in Columbia was still scheduled, even as reports started circulating the SEC might upend things. (Hogue had not read the Sports Illustrated report at the time he was reached.) Earlier in the day, Gamecocks AD Ray Tanner said there was no thought of moving the Coastal game up, as the NCAA allowed all schools a game as early as Aug. 29.
Any more changes would set off chain reactions, a new set of teams with a flurry of open dates and a much smaller roster of Power 5 options to play against.
Coastal’s conference, the Sun Belt, hasn’t made any overarching moves as it relates to football, but the school expects a level of help if it has to go find some new partners.
“You work with your league and you could start having discussions and working on contingencies that may involve other FBS leagues,” Hogue said. “You know, at the end of the day, regardless of whether you’re considered Power 5 or G5, all 10 FBS conferences are still a part of the college football system. So I think we all tend to operate in the same vein or under the same concept, so there’s a lot of mutual relationships that you rely on.”
He said that if it comes to that, it’s simply going to be a matter of looking at dates, making calls and finding someone else willing to play.
Through all this, Hogue has spoken to Tanner a few times. Much of it was just about operating a department in the current environment and working through protocols. They haven’t talked about the game recently, and that’s not always necessary since things shift so rapidly.
He expects he’ll get a heads up about any imminent decisions, either with a change or if things stay as they are.
One issue that became a bit of a topic nationally was a question of whether smaller schools could afford the rigorous testing regimes larger ones could. Hogue said Coastal plans to test to the NCAA’s standards and had not been contacted by other schools concerned about it.
Coastal’s football program has only existed since 2003, growing into a team that made six FCS playoffs in a decade before jumping to FBS. The Chants have played twice in Columbia, losing both.
One lingering question will be that $1.4 million payout that moves into a questionable spot. The contracts don’t provide a full measure of clarity on what happens if the SEC votes to cancel non-conference games. One interpretation has the deal simply dissolving; another leaves the Gamecocks on the hook for a $1.5 million cancellation fee. And any push or pull likely has the backdrop of potential future games down the road.
No matter what happens, Coastal plans to at least try to recoup money, another bit of the fallout when they all, as he put it, find that finish line.
“I think we would look at every avenue that’s available,” Hogue said. “I don’t think there’s any question about that. The impact to us is such that we would always explore all options. That’s probably where I would leave it.”
This story was originally published July 30, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "How Coastal Carolina, USC’s first opponent, is managing uncertainty as SEC news looms."
