CCU Notebook: Chants have become prime time players, indoor facility clears hurdle
Coastal Carolina football has become more of a national commodity after its breakout 2020 season.
Two of the Chanticleers’ first three games in 2021 will air on national television, and the first two games will be non-Saturday night games.
The Chanticleers, coming off an 11-1 season and co-Sun Belt Conference championship, will host Kansas at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 10 on ESPN2 and travel to face Buffalo at noon on Sept. 18 on either ESPN2 or ESPNU.
CCU hosts The Citadel to open the season at 7 p.m. Sept. 2., which is a Thursday. The Kansas game is on a Friday.
CCU’s three midweek games in Sun Belt play will all be at 7:30 p.m. and in succession on the schedule as it plays at Arkansas State on Oct. 7 (Thursday) on ESPNU, travels to Appalachian State on Oct. 20 (Wednesday) on ESPN2, and hosts Troy on Oct. 28 (Thursday) on ESPNU.
The release of CCU’s game times is in concert with the Sun Belt, which in conjunction with ESPN announced the networks and game times for the first three weeks and all scheduled midweek games of the 2021 season.
CCU season tickets are on sale at the Chanticleer Athletics Ticket Office, which can be reached at 843-347-TIXX (8499) or tickets@coastal.edu.
Myrtle Beach Bowl date set
The second annual Myrtle Beach Bowl at Brooks Stadium on the CCU campus is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Dec. 20, which is a Monday.
The bowl is contracted to feature teams from two of three conferences: the Mid-American Conference, Conference USA and the Sun Belt. Appalachian State of the Sun Belt defeated North Texas of CUSA 56-28 last December in the inaugural game.
The Sun Belt’s five bowl tie-ins airing on ESPN networks were announced. In addition to the Myrtle Beach Bowl, the Cure Bowl in Orlando, Florida, is at 6 p.m. Dec. 17 on ESPN2; the Lending Tree Bowl in Mobile, Alabama is at 5:45 p.m. Dec. 18 on ESPN; the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl is at 9:15 p.m. Dec. 18 on ESPN; and the Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama, is at 2:30 p.m. on Christmas Day on ESPN.
Indoor practice facility moving forward
The Coastal Educational Foundation last week unanimously approved a land transfer request by the university for a piece of property to build a $15 million indoor football practice facility.
The land is across Chanticleer Drive from Brooks Stadium, and the approval allows the university, its athletic department and the nonprofit Chanticleer Athletic Foundation to begin fundraising.
The facility will be funded entirely by donor gifts. A $10,000 environmental study is the initial step.
CCU director of athletics Matt Hogue hopes the facility, which will likely have multiple purposes for the school, will be completed by the end of 2022.
CCU baseball season complete
For the first time since 2014, the Coastal baseball team didn’t finish at least 10 games above .500 and have a winning record in its conference — not including the 2020 season, which was canceled following 16 games (11-5) because of the coronavirus.
The Chanticleers went 27-24 overall and 9-12 in the Sun Belt Conference, including a sweep of Texas State in the final series of the year that was part of a five-game winning streak late in the season.
The streak ended with a 14-7 loss to South Alabama on Wednesday in the Sun Belt tournament that effectively ended CCU’s season.
CCU had its first losing season in conference play since 1997. The Chants began the season 13-6.
Senior center fielder Parker Chavers, a likely 2021 Major League Baseball draft pick, had the best offensive season for the Chants and was the only player with a batting average above .295.
He hit .318 in 49 games and 195 official plate appearances with 12 doubles, two triples and five home runs, including two game-winners. He also had 32 runs scored, 33 RBI, 23 walks and a team-high 14 stolen bases in 18 attempts.
Freshman right-handed reliever Teddy Sharkey of New Jersey had perhaps the best season on the mound, going 4-1 with a 2.25 ERA and 1.22 WHIP in 22 appearances. He allowed 22 hits in 32 innings with 33 strikeouts and 17 walks.
The Chants had made the NCAA postseason in four of the previous five seasons — not including 2020 — 11 of the last 13, and 16 of the past 19.
Gilmore receives FCA honor
CCU baseball head coach Gary Gilmore was named the recipient of the 2021 Jerry Kindall Character in Coaching Award by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes this week.
Named after the late Jerry Kindall, a former Major League player and head coach at the University of Arizona, the award has been presented since 2006 to the college or high school baseball coach who best exemplifies the FCA values of integrity, serving, teamwork and excellence on and off the field.
“Fellowship of Christian Athletes has honored an outstanding coach who has impacted countless players over his successful career,” said FCA President and CEO Shane Williamson in a release. “We congratulate Gary Gilmore for not only his accomplishments on the field, but also for the way he has touched the lives of countless young athletes — all for the glory of God.”
Gilmore just completed his 26th season as head coach at his alma mater. Gilmore won the 2016 NCAA Division I College World Series and this season recorded his 1,250th career win and 1,000th win at CCU. He coached the season through treatments for pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer, which is under control.
The award’s namesake died on Dec. 24, 2017. He was the first person in NCAA history to win NCAA Division I College World Series titles as both a player (at Minnesota in 1956) and a head coach (at Arizona in 1976, 1980, and 1986).
Gilmore is the second CCU coach to receive a national FCA award this year. In January, football coach Jamey Chadwell received the 2020 Grant Teaff Coach of the Year Award along with Indiana’s Tom Allen.
Named after Grant Teaff, former Baylor University coach, AFCA executive director and Trustee Emeritus of the FCA Board of Trustees, the FCA honor recognizes a football coach who is involved in the FCA and exemplifies Christian principles. His team’s success and performance on the field is part of the consideration.
Ejumeta qualifies for NCAA Championships
Fifth-year CCU track athlete David Ejumeta qualified for the 2021 NCAA Championships in the long jump Wednesday at the 2021 NCAA Track and Field East Preliminaries at Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida
The First Team All-Sun Belt Conference selection is the second athlete in school history to advance to the finals, being held June 9-12 in Eugene, Oregon, in the long jump.
Ejumeta earned the 12th and final spot in the event to advance on his final jump of 7.52 meters. R’Lazon Brumfield of Tennessee State and Jeremiah Willis of Louisville jumped the same distance but Ejumeta was deemed to have more wind resistance.
Some CCU women have a chance to advance to the NCAA finals as well.
Sophomore Melissa Jefferson of Georgetown and Carvers Bay High, and freshman Jermaisha Arnold of Myrtle Beach and Socastee High will compete in Saturday’s regional finals.
Jefferson, who holds the fastest time in school history in the 100-meter sprint, is competing in the 100 and 200 events, while Arnold advanced to the 400 regional final with a school-record time of 52.55. CCU has teams in the women’s 4x100 and 4x400 as well.
Byrd wins NCAA women’s golf title
Former Coastal Carolina golfer Zack Byrd’s decision to get into coaching three years ago was validated this week when he won the national NCAA women’s golf title as an assistant coach at Mississippi.
“I told them when we got off the plane yesterday, ‘Just in case you all were wondering, thank you for making my decision to get out of professional golf the right one,’” Byrd said Friday. “It kind of validated it this week that it was the right decision to make at the time that I made it. I’m enjoying every minute of it. It helps when you’re good.”
It’s the first recognized national title at the school in any sport, male or female, as claimed football titles in 1959, 1960 and 1962 were voted on and weren’t unanimous.
Byrd has been an assistant to Ole Miss head coach Kory Henkes for the past two and a half seasons. He left his first coaching job with the women’s team at Colorado State after just one semester to join Ole Miss.
Henkes, previously Kory Thompson prior to marriage, is a good friend and former University of South Carolina teammate of Conway native Kristy McPherson, who facilitated a meeting between the two when the job was open.
Mississippi defeated Oklahoma State 4-1 Wednesday in the match play finals at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The Rebels were ranked 134th in the country when Henkes took over the program in June 2015. She has built a national champion with Byrd’s assistance while giving birth to two girls over the past few years.
Byrd does a lot of the recruiting, largely sets up practices and keeps and regularly goes over stats with players to determine what areas of their games need work.
“We kind of complement each other very well. I’m not as organized as she is,” Byrd said. “...She trusts me to do my own thing and lets me go and coach them the way I want to coach them. She doesn’t micromanage, which is great. It has been a very good introduction to coaching for me because I feel I’ve learned a ton from her on a lot of things I’m not very strong with. And I’ve taught her things with practice and ways I prepare, things she didn’t necessarily know even being the high level coach she is. It’s been really cool.”
In Byrd’s second season in 2019-20, the Rebels won four team titles and finished the season ranked in the top 15 in three major polls, and three Rebels earned SEC All-Conference honors.
The 2021 championship team consisted of seniors Julia Johnson and Kennedy Swann, sophomores Andrea Lignell and Chiara Tamburlini, and freshman Smilla Sonderby. Johnson, perhaps the most decorated player in program history, has indicated she intends to return, Byrd said.
“I kind of want to do this again and I think we have a phenomenal chance to do it again next year,” Byrd said.
Byrd played professionally for a decade after finishing an All-American career at CCU in 2009.
He twice reached the finals of the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament to earn conditional status on the Web.com Tour, played in the 2011 U.S. Open and was a member of the Sunshine Tour in South Africa in 2017-18.
Byrd played only a handful of times in the 18 months after he began coaching, but has been playing more recently and played well in practice rounds with his players this spring, regularly shooting between 66 and 70. “It turns out I’m a lot better when my paycheck doesn’t rely on my golf game,” he joked.
He may play in a few smaller pro tournaments and pro-ams this summer, when he’ll be spending a lot of time on the Grand Strand. He’s considering entering the PGA of America program to play in PGA section events.
He still owns an online travel agency and his wife, Ali, is a golf instructor at the university course. They balance work with raising their two young children.
“We kind of can breathe for the first time in our married life and now I feel is the time for me to start trying to find tournaments, where I don’t mind if I spend $600 or $700 to go play something,” Byrd said. “Two years ago I didn’t have that nest egg where I felt I could go gamble when I wasn’t playing as much as I used to.... I’ve got the desire to want to get back out and play some more.”
This story was originally published May 29, 2021 at 8:45 AM.
