‘It’s always about hunting something’: CCU football sticking with underdog mentality
Coastal Carolina was voted as a co-favorite to win the Sun Belt Conference’s East Division in 2021 along with Appalachian State in the league’s preseason coaches poll released this week.
But the Chanticleers are still holding as motivation the perceived disrespect they were slapped with last year when the coaches picked them to finish last in the 10-team conference, all the while knowing they will be a target after going undefeated in the regular season in 2020.
“Before last year we were picked to finish last in the conference, and that’s motivation enough to go out there every day and compete and work hard so you can win each game,” linebacker Silas Kelly said Thursday during Sun Belt football media day in New Orleans. “This year is a little different story because of the success we had, people have a target on us and you might call that pressure.
“But in our minds we’re still picked to finish last and we have to carry that with us and take that into this year and have the same approach, same mentality, same mindset as we did last year.”
Coastal had an overall losing record and finished 2-6 in the Sun Belt in each of its first three seasons in the league through 2019.
“For us it’s always about hunting something.” CCU head coach Jamey Chadwell said. “We’re always looking for a challenge, or looking for something that gives us added motivation or a chip on our shoulder to continue to go prove who we are, because all of us at Coastal were told we weren’t good enough. . . . So there’s a chip on a lot of our shoulders and that’s got to be the mentality that always stays with you.”
One thing the Chants can target as an unaccomplished goal in 2021 is hosting the Sun Belt Conference Championship game on Dec. 4, which will air on ESPN. The Chants earned the right to host the 2020 title game against West Division champ Louisiana but it was canceled because of coronavirus cases within the CCU program.
“Make no doubt, we want to hopefully host it,” Chadwell said. “That’s one of the disappointing things was obviously not getting to play but also not having the chance to host that game as well. That would be something great if we could accomplish that. Every day that’s what we’re working toward.”
Coastal’s success has led to six of its 12 games being scheduled as non-Saturday contests, so the Chants should have more eyes on them across the nation with the unorthodox scheduling. “My mulllet gets to be on TV a lot so I’m excited about it,” joked Chadwell, who has grown a mullet in the offseason that can rival some of his players’.
Chadwell said he believes the Chants have had a productive offseason and have added depth at key positions that will fortify the team and continue to build the program.
“As a whole I think this is the best mentality that a freshman class has had coming in,” Kelly said. “We’re also in the best position as leaders and teammates to instill that culture that we’ve had, that we’ve built over the years in those young guys, so to have that foundation at the top and be able to be pass that down to the younger guys and younger classes, I think that’s how you build a program and how you keep it going year after year even after we’re gone. That’s what we want to do, we want to leave a legacy of success and legacy of discipline and loving your teammates.”
COVID and the Sun Belt in 2021
As the Delta variant of the coronavirus continues to spread across the U.S., the Sun Belt isn’t mandating that players, coaches and staff receive a COVID vaccination, but it is strongly encouraging inoculation both publicly and with its policies for the 2021 season.
Sun Belt commissioner Keith Gill said teams that can’t play a scheduled conference game due to coronavirus cases within their program will forfeit and those games won’t be made up. Players who have been vaccinated won’t be in contact tracing protocol, while the unvaccinated will be subject to tracing and potential quarantine.
Last season, the conference rescheduled some of the games that were postponed due to COVID issues, and if a postponed game wasn’t played it was deemed no contest and neither team was saddled with a loss.
Like many in the conference, Coastal is allowing full capacity at its home games at Brooks Stadium after having limited attendance in 2020.
More national TV opportunities in future
The Sun Belt has extended its media rights deal with ESPN through the 2030-31 academic year, Gill announced Thursday.
The new agreement will result in a more than 50 percent increase in the number of Sun Belt football games that appear on ESPN’s linear television offerings — currently ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU — with 40 percent of those additional broadcasts being televised on a Saturday.
“This new agreement is a recognition of our success and value. It will expand our reach and provide a vast amount of exposure for our members,” Gill said.
ESPN and the Sun Belt announced in May an adjustment to the planned broadcast schedule for the 2021 season that gives the Sun Belt more midweek and national television games.
The Sun Belt boasted a 135% increase in TV viewership in 2020 compared to 2019, with seven of the conference’s games surpassing 1 million viewers. Coastal’s rise to prominence was a big part of those numbers, and the Chants will likely be featured in many of the future national broadcasts if their success continues.
CCU adds multimedia rights partner
CCU’s athletics department has entered into a long-term partnership with Van Wagner for the company to be the Chanticleers’ first and exclusive multimedia rights partner and sales agent for corporate sponsorships.
Van Wagner plans to grow and expand CCU’s corporate sponsorship program. It will launch a local team dedicated to represent CCU in the marketplace and enhance the in-venue experience for sponsors, business partners and the fan base.
In collaboration with CCU Athletics, Van Wagner will handle the integration of corporate sponsorship across multimedia assets including prominent broadcast-visible venue signage, broadcast rights and digital and social media outlets. Van Wagner is already a partner of the Sun Belt Conference and member Georgia State.
Van Wagner handles multimedia college sports marketing and sponsorship for schools and athletic conferences, and creates, advises and sells on their behalf.
