CCU calls news conference Tuesday for ‘historic announcement’

With chatter sweeping through Twitter and related blogs Monday evening, national media outlets like ESPN and USA Today followed suit with reports that Coastal Carolina University will accept an invitation to join the Sun Belt Conference.

And a little before 11 p.m Monday the university sent an email announcing it would hold a news conference Tuesday at 1 p.m. inside The HTC Center for a “historic announcement” from CCU President David DeCenzo, encouraging the general public to attend.

The national media reports relied on unnamed sources and no officials from the university or the Sun Belt Conference have been quoted on the record yet about the news, but the Chanticleers’ talks with the conference have been no secret this summer.

After hosting Sun Belt commissioner Karl Benson and his team for a campus visit in early August, DeCenzo told The Sun News that he would accept an invitation to join the conference if offered.

The Sun Belt competes at the NCAA’s Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level, which is a higher level for that sport than the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level the Chants have competed at as a member of the Big South Conference.

Aside from football, the rest of Coastal Carolina’s athletic programs already compete at the same Division I level as Sun Belt schools, though the strength of the conference will provide a boost for the Chants in sports like baseball.

The Sun Belt currently stretches from North Carolina (Appalachian State) through Georgia (Georgia Southern, Georgia State), Alabama (South Alabama, Troy), Arkansas (Arkansas State, Arkansas-Little Rock), Louisiana (Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe) and Texas (Texas-Arlington, Texas State) with Idaho and New Mexico State part of the league as football-only members. Arkansas-Little Rock and Texas-Arlington do not play football.

In his comments last month, DeCenzo said Coastal Carolina would immediately begin the process of expanding Brooks Stadium from 9,214 seats to more than 20,000 if it joined the Sun Belt as FBS programs are required to maintain an average attendance of at least 15,000.

Any change would not affect the Chants this year, though, as they will still be eligible to compete for an FCS national championship while opening their football season Saturday night at Furman.

The school’s non-football sports could begin competing in the Sun Belt as soon as next school year while the football program would have to go through a two-year transition before becoming a fully eligible FBS member.

The Sun Belt, which moves to 12 full-time members and 12 football members with the addition of Coastal Carolina, also visited Eastern Kentucky this summer and was reportedly also considering the option of making football-only member New Mexico State a full-fledged member. The presidents/chancellors of the conference’s schools had to vote to approve any new member with support needed from nine of the 11.

“The general public is welcome and encouraged to come for this historic announcement,” the university’s email said.

Former Coastal Carolina athletic director Hunter Yurachek, who is now in the same position at Houston, had preliminary talks with the Sun Belt several years ago and offered his support of the move via Twitter late Monday night.

“Excited to see Sun Belt’s choice to add Coastal Carolina as the 12th member. Most of pieces are in place for the Chants to have success,” he tweeted.

This story was originally published September 1, 2015 at 12:44 AM with the headline "CCU calls news conference Tuesday for ‘historic announcement’."