How Coastal Carolina continues to benefit from the success of the 2020 football season
Coastal Carolina continues to enjoy the residual benefits of the success it achieved during the 2020 season.
The season included ESPN College GameDay coming to Conway the week of CCU’s top-15 showdown with Brigham Young, the program’s first bowl berth, and an 11-1 record and national ranking as high as ninth in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll.
The Chants ended the season ranked 12th in the final College Football Playoff Ranking following an overtime loss to Liberty in the Cure Bowl, and return 19 of 22 starters on offense and defense along with all prominent special teams players.
“From being around here for a long time, I sense a momentum and excitement level that I can’t recall. This is really a highly-anticipated season,” CCU Director of Athletics Matt Hogue said. “ . . . There’s definitely a palpable excitement, not only about what we may be able to do this season but kind of where our brand is in the national consciousness, and I think that’s the thing that probably makes me the most excited and I get the most enjoyment out of because that’s something that’s harder to maybe pin down. That’s an intangible we constantly here are working towards.”
Ticket sales are up.
The school has already set a record for the number of football season tickets sold with nearly 3,000 about six weeks before the season’s first game. And the cost of season tickets essentially did not increase this year.
The West Zone and Loge box premium seating areas are sold out. and there are just a limited number of spaces in the South Atlantic Bank Fan Zone area.
And Hogue said the Myrtle Beach market is largely one that purchases tickets on game day rather than in advance. The Chants have the benefit of seven homes games this year as well, with three of their four non-conference games at Brooks Stadium.
Donations are up.
Contributions to the Chanticleer Athletic Foundation nonprofit that raises money to support CCU athletics are up, partially due to a portion of ticket sales that go to the CAF. “And we’re still rolling pretty strong,” Hogue said.
The CAF reported it raised $852,000 in member donations for the 2019-20 fiscal year, which ended June 30, 2020, to set a new foundation record. And new CAF executive director Kelly Moore said it raised more than $1.45 million through the first seven months of the fiscal year, which includes more than just member donations – additional things such as pledges and designated portions of ticket sales.
The ball is already rolling on a $15 million football indoor practice facility that will be entirely funded from donor gifts and could open by the end of 2022.
“Everything is trending the way we want it to trend and the way it should trend based on the prominence of our program,” Hogue said. “ . . . To be routinely discussed in playoff expansion stories and speculation, and to be likely a preseason top 25 team, those are pretty amazing accomplishments across the board when you think about how quickly we’ve grown. Only four years ago we were making this move to FBS in the first place. I feel in a lot of ways it’s tremendous validation for the vision and challenges we’ve gone through to make this move, and to take us to the level we’re now competing.”
The Chants will have more national exposure because of their newfound notoriety, as they have several non-Saturday and scheduled national TV games.
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.
CCU will host Kansas at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 10 on ESPN2 after ESPN requested the game be moved to a Friday night, and travels 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.
CCU’s three scheduled midweek games in Sun Belt Conference 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.
“That’s what comes with the fact that we’re successful and we’re expected to compete for a Sun Belt championship,” Hogue said. “Based on how ESPN and the Sun Belt work the TV contract you’re going to have games that show up at more uncommon times.”
The Chants’ success has gotten the attention of high school players, as CCU is now getting a different caliber of recruit. Coastal’s 2022 recruiting class is ranked 52nd in the country by 247Sports.com, which is No. 1 in the Sun Belt and fourth among Group of Five schools behind Cincinnati, Marshall and SMU.
CCU’s class includes 16 commits and at least 12 that are 247Sports 3-star athletes, including athlete Matthew McDoon of Winter Garden, Florida, who is ranked 4 stars by some recruiting services. Though it’s early for the rankings, the Chants are currently ahead of numerous Power Five schools including Auburn, Nebraska, Miami, Iowa, Washington, Colorado, Texas Tech, Utah and Louisville.
“Now we just have to get out there and hope everything comes together like it did a year ago, and it’s kind of hard to fathom what might happen at that point,” Hogue said. “Everything is kind of laid out in front of us, now it’s just about execution and taking advantage of it.”
Chants earn awards, honors
CCU head football coach Jamey Chadwell, who received several national coach of the year honors in 2020, is one of 17 coaches on the 2021 Dodd Trophy national coach of the year watch list.
CCU quarterback and reigning Sun Belt Player of the Year Grayson McCall is on the watch list for the 85th Maxwell Award, which is presented annually to the outstanding player in college football.
McCall is also one of 30 players named to the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award watch list and outside linebacker Jeffrey Gunter is on the watch list for the Chuck Bednarik Award, presented to the nation’s outstanding defensive player.
Sixth-year senior defensive lineman C.J. Brewer has been named to the 2021 Athlon Sports Preseason All-America fourth team. He was a 2020 AP Third-Team All-American and Phil Steele honorable mention All-American. Senior tight end Isaiah Likely has been named to the 2021 Pro Football Focus Preseason College Football All-America third team.
CCU 2020 senior defensive end Tarron Jackson, who is a member of the Philadelphia Eagles, and sixth-year senior linebacker Silas Kelly were both named to the 2020-21 CoSIDA Academic All-America Division I football first team by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
To be eligible, a student-athlete must have been named to the 2020-21 CoSIDA Academic All-District team, recorded a 3.5 cumulative grade point average (GPA) and played in over 50 percent of the team’s games on the season.
The pair become the sixth and seventh Chants to earn the academic honor, joining two-time recipient Josh Hoke (2005 and 2006), Marcus Lott (2011), Alex Ross (2015) and Jonathan Clayton (2019).
Scott the best in the nation
Coastal director of football speed, strength and conditioning Chad Scott is the 2020 FootballScoop Strength & Conditioning Coach of the Year. He was selected by prior winners.
In just his second year at the FBS level, Scott helped Coastal post its best season by being one of the healthiest teams in college football.
The Chants started the same 11 players in nine of 11 regular-season games, and the other two lineups had minimal changes. On offense, three starters missed one game apiece.
The Chants held up physically against a solid schedule, posting the program’s first two wins ever over FBS top 25 opponents and four wins over top 50 opponents. The team also ranked second nationally in fewest penalties per game with 3.67.
Scott came to CCU after six years at Charleston Southern as the assistant athletic director for student-athlete development and head strength and conditioning coach.
Super Bowl champion joins staff
Coastal has added an assistant coach with a Super Bowl ring.
Rod Wilson is coaching inside linebackers and rejoins Chadwell and defensive coordinator Chad Staggs, who he coached under at Charleston Southern from 2013-16.
Wilson spent last season at his alma mater South Carolina where he was in charge of linebackers. He coached Ernest Jones, who was selected by the Los Angeles Rams with the 103rd pick of the 2021 NFL Draft.
After leaving Charleston Southern, Wilson spent three seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs as an assistant special teams coach and won the 2020 Super Bowl. Wilson had a six-year NFL playing career after being drafted by the Chicago Bears in the seventh round.
Woman of the Year nominee
CCU volleyball rising senior Anett Nemeth has been nominated for the 2021 NCAA Woman of the Year award, which recognizes graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.
A two-time American Volleyball Coaches Association All-America honorable mention and AVCA All-Region selection in each of the last two seasons (2019 and 2020), Nemeth was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Division I women’s volleyball third team. The Hungary native is also a two-time VolleyballMag.com All-American and two-time Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year.
Nemeth led the 2020 team to an 18-1 record, a national ranking as high as No. 12, the Sun Belt Conference’s East Division championship and a runner-up finish in the conference tournament. Her season ended with an injury in the second match of the tournament.
The 6-foot-2 hitter led the Sun Belt in kills at 4.44 per set, was second in service aces at 0.38 per set, and fourth in hitting percentage at 33.4%. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business management in May and is working toward an MBA. Each conference can nominate two female athletes for Woman of the Year.
CCU alums represent their countries
Former CCU men’s soccer teammates Braulio Linares-Ortiz and Frantzdy Pierrot represented their home countries in the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Linares-Ortiz, a goalkeeper, played for Guatemala while Pierrot, a forward, played for Haiti.
Both players spent the 2016 and 2017 seasons with CCU and were all-conference performers while helping the Chants win consecutive Sun Belt Conference regular-season and tournament championships for NCAA tournament berths. In 2017, CCU reached the third round of NCAA tournament before losing to eventual national champ Stanford.
Jefferson earns All-America honors
Rising junior Melissa Jefferson of Georgetown and Carvers Bay High set school records last season and earned USTFCCCA Second Team All-America honors after reaching the 100- and 200-meter semifinals in the 2020 NCAA Track & Field Championships at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field.
She finished 14th overall in the 100 and 18th in the 200 at the NCAA finals.
The 2021 Sun Belt Most Outstanding Track Performer set CCU records in the 100 with a time of 11.22 (1.0) and 200 with a time of 22.95 (0.5), and she broke those respective records four times apiece in 2021. Much is expected of her as a junior in 2021-22.
This story was originally published July 21, 2021 at 8:01 AM.
