CCU accepts offer to join Sun Belt Conference on ‘historic’ day for university

Signaling a “historic announcement” and inviting fans and supporters to join inside The HTC Center, Coastal Carolina University President David DeCenzo formally accepted an invitation for the school to join the Sun Belt Conference on Tuesday afternoon.

Coastal Carolina’s talks with the conference progressed quickly in the last several months and dominated discussion and chatter within the school’s fan base this summer, and by the time DeCenzo and Sun Belt commissioner Karl Benson made the official announcement just past 1 p.m., the news had become the worst kept secret in town.

But no less significant.

A charter member of the Big South Conference since 1983, the Chanticleers now make a significant leap from the NCAA’s Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) to joining one of 10 conferences in the upper-tiered Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Instead of competing for a spot in the FCS playoffs, the Chants will soon be competing to play in bowl games.

And they leave a conference with regional footing in the Carolinas and Virginia for one that stretches from North Carolina (Appalachian State) through Georgia (Georgia Southern, Georgia State), Alabama (South Alabama, Troy), Arkansas (Arkansas-Little Rock, Arkansas State), Louisiana (Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe) and Texas (Texas-Arlington, Texas State). The Chants become the 12th full member of the league and 12th football-playing member as Arkansas-Little Rock and Texas-Arlington don’t play football while Idaho and New Mexico State are football-only members of the Sun Belt.

Asked where this moment ranks during his tenure as university president, DeCenzo said “It’s got to be up toward the top.”

“I see what this can do for this university in branding the university and moving us forward,” he told The Sun News in advance of the formal announcement. “I don’t think the immediate impact is going to be felt overnight, but I’ve said to a couple of people, ‘I hope before I die you see Coastal Carolina University playing a New Year’s Day bowl game,’ and when that happens people are going to look back at today and say ‘Oh my goodness, this is where it started.’ And I think we’ll get there.”

DeCenzo reiterated that vision in his address to the fans, who covered most of a wall of bleachers inside the arena, and the university personnel and coaches who filled seats on the court. The crowd stood in applause at various points of the news conference and it very much had the feel of a pep rally – one launching a whole new era of Coastal Carolina athletics.

“A generation from now, Sept. 1, 2015, is going to go down as a historic day in the life of this university,” chairman of the board of trustees D. Wyatt Henderson said. “And we can say we were all a part of it.”

In a smaller media session after the ceremony, meanwhile, Benson offered his own perspective on the significant step Coastal Carolina is taking with this move.

“I probably didn’t do a good enough job on the stage today to explain just how important and how valuable FBS membership is,” he said. “Here in the state of South Carolina now, Coastal Carolina is now in the same category as the University of South Carolina and Clemson. Coastal Carolina next year will become the 130th FBS member. Ten conferences. This is a very elite group. The Sun Belt is part of that.”

Benson had called DeCenzo on Sunday to tell him that after three hours of deliberation and discussion the conference’s chancellors and presidents had reached a decision to add Coastal Carolina – needing supporting votes from nine of the 11 university leaders – and the news soon started trickling out from every crevice locally and nationally Monday afternoon and evening.

The process unfolded quickly from start to finish these last several months, but the final moments had university officials anxious in anticipation.

“This was probably the most nervous that I’ve been in a long time, but to get the call from the commissioner and him saying, on behalf of the 11 chancellors, presidents of the Sun Belt they were extending an invitation to Coastal Carolina University, it was almost surreal,” DeCenzo said. “It’s something we’ve been working for. Certainly the past couple of weeks have been very intense in the due diligence, but like I said, it was their schedule. I know there was a lot of speculation as to when they would potentially vote, but as they say, it’s not over until it’s over. So when I got the call it was just a phenomenal feeling.”

Benson acknowledged the vote for Coastal Carolina wasn’t unanimous, with Eastern Kentucky also in consideration and making New Mexico State a full-fledged member another option on the table. But, he added, “We know they received at least nine votes.”

“We spent a lot of time evaluating and assessing. It’s a process, we went through the process and at the end of the day Coastal Carolina came out on top,” he said. “With all due respect to Eastern Kentucky and New Mexico State, who I think have tremendous potential and growth opportunities as well, I think that we hit a home run here with Coastal Carolina.”

In speaking of the Chants’ potential to grow and succeed at the FBS level, Benson referenced his own alma mater Boise State – one of the great success stories of schools making this jump to football’s top classification.

“I think you always look for potential upside. And I couldn’t help when I saw the stadium and the teal turf, I couldn’t help but think of Boise State,” Benson said. “I’m a Boise State alum, I’ve watched Boise State, I brought Boise State into the Western Athletic Conference in 2001, and as I came to the Sun Belt three years ago one of my messages to the current membership was that there isn’t any reason that any of the current Sun Belt members couldn’t take the same path that Boise State took. And when I saw the plan here, it was very apparent that there were a lot of similarities between Coastal Carolina and Boise State.”

Nothing changes for the Chants this year, though. The football team, ranked No. 5 in the FCS national polls, will continue with its quest for an FCS national championship, and the school’s other athletic programs will continue competing as members of the Big South for one more season.

Effective July 1, 2016, all programs except for football will then become full-fledged members of the Sun Belt while the football program must complete the NCAA’s mandated two-year transition period before being eligible for bowl games. The Chants can begin playing a Sun Belt schedule in 2017 and can compete for a conference championship even though they won’t be eligible for the postseason until 2018.

The conference, which was established in 1976 and began sponsoring football in 2001, has tie-ins to four bowl games.

As for football scheduling in 2016, Coastal Carolina’s leadership is hoping it will be able to proceed with its slate as currently constructed, including the built-in dates with Big South foes.

“At this point, that’s the case,” athletic director Matt Hogue said.

The Chants’ other sports, meanwhile, already compete at the same Division I level as the Sun Belt so the transition will not be as dramatic – aside from expanded travel to a degree – but the league’s strength of competition will provide a boost to many of the school’s programs in areas like RPI rating and recruiting opportunities.

“No disrespect to Big South schools, but it’s been well publicized when we get into conference play, our RPI goes down. That’s going to stop,” DeCenzo said. “Just take a sport like baseball – we are going to be competitive immediately in baseball. We’re a good addition to their baseball program. Football, obviously, we’ve got to catch up with where the schools are, but I think we’ll quickly be competitive.

“Needless to say the recruiting will change. Basketball, for example, is going to start recruiting very shortly. Knowing we’re going into the Sun Belt, that’s probably going to change the kind of athlete they’re looking for. Obviously it’s going to change the football recruiting.”

The Chants will add 22 scholarships in football as FCS programs are capped at 63 scholarships while FBS programs compete at 85. And then there’s the stadium expansion.

The NCAA requires FBS programs to maintain an average attendance of at least 15,000 over a rolling two-year cycle.

DeCenzo reiterated the university will begin the process immediately of expanding Brooks Stadium from 9,214 seats to more than 20,000, completing the lower bowl on the end of the field that connects to Adkins Field House and adding a second level on the side closest to S.C. Highway 544.

Henderson said early estimates for the expansion project suggest it could cost between $7-11 million, depending on exactly what the university decides to do. He and DeCenzo both emphasized that funding for that project will come from a mix of the university’s reserve funds and some private money and that students won’t be asked to pay for any of it.

“Let me assure you from the board’s perspective, this will not result in an increase in tuition whatsoever,” Henderson said. “We’re able to manage this move to the Sun Belt given our current budget structure with the surplus we create and we will not pass this additional cost along to the student.”

Asked where the private money would come from, Henderson said, “We are currently identifying sources.”

As for other costs associated with the move, DeCenzo called the Big South on Monday afternoon to inform the conference that Coastal Carolina would be leaving, and he said the university’s exit fee is $100,000 while the buy-in fee to join the Sun Belt is $2 million. That doesn’t have to be paid up front, though, he said.

“What’s nice, as I understand it, we do not have to pay to buy in. What they have done as a conference with new schools, when you start earning your shares you can take a portion of your share each year and pay your buy-in fee off,” he said.

In regard to leaving the Big South after more than 30 years in the conference, DeCenzo called the move “bittersweet.”

“I just think this really is a historic day. Bittersweet,” he said. “We were a founding member of the Big South and we outgrew it. And I’ve had some good friends in the Big South. On one hand you get a chance to make new friends with new colleagues at these universities and on the other hand you hope you keep your friendships alive with people you’ve worked closely with, certainly in my tenure, the last eight years as president.”

Throughout the process, though, DeCenzo, said he received overwhelmingly positive support in and around the university for the move.

And that showed through in the palpable excitement inside The HTC Center on Tuesday and in the words of Coastal Carolina coaches talking of the opportunities the Sun Belt now opens up for their respective programs.

“Everything that has been said to me has been unbelievably positive,” DeCenzo said. “People [have mentioned they are] looking forward to finally coming to a game. They think the level of competition is going to be such they’re going to want it. I’ve had a couple of the other coaches who have said, ‘I hope this happens because this is going to help continue putting us on a national level.’ ... But I have heard nothing but positive comments, even from faculty and staff who have said, ‘This is a good move for Coastal.’”

From the Sun Belt’s perspective, Coastal Carolina was the right mix of location and potential and just as good a move for the league as well.

Benson underscored that adding the Chants was not about getting to 12 football members as much as it was about providing support for student-athletes with the creation of East/West divisions that will mitigate the travel demands of the conference’s wide footprint.

Coastal Carolina will be part of the Sun Belt’s East division along with Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, South Alabama and Troy.

He also mentioned that he could see the Conway/Myrtle Beach area as a logical location for future conference championships.

“This university could have sold itself, with all respect, with or without Myrtle Beach. The fact that Myrtle Beach is here and it’s part of it just adds to it,” Benson said. “We expect that we will be conducting many Sun Belt championships here on the Coastal Carolina campus and/or in Myrtle Beach because it is a great destination and it’s a great fan destination. That certainly is a valuable, valuable piece.”

With the Chants emerging as perennial FCS contenders under head coach Joe Moglia the last couple years, the men’s basketball program coming off back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances, the men’s soccer program leading the NCAA in wins since 2010 and a perennial fixture in the NCAA tournament and the baseball program long a fixture on the national scene, it’s not surprising that Coastal Carolina caught the interest of the Sun Belt.

What is a bit surprising, again, is how quickly it all came together in the last several months.

Former Coastal Carolina athletic director Hunter Yurachek, now in the same position at Houston, had an exploratory conversation with Benson and the Sun Belt several years ago, but there was nothing residual from that past discussion to forecast this move until the league initiated contact again in the spring and Benson made his first visit to campus in early June.

“If we’d gone another direction two years ago with X, Y or Z who may have been on our target list two years ago, then we wouldn’t be sitting here today more than likely,” Benson said. “So some of these partnerships, marriages [are] based on right time, right place and that certainly is the case here.”

Especially for Coastal Carolina.

The Chants had been trying for a number of years to elevate beyond the Big South, but the university was rebuffed by other FCS level conferences such as the Southern Conference in the past. Now, they’ve leapfrogged over those leagues and into a coveted position in the FBS landscape.

And even DeCenzo had to admit that he couldn’t have seen this coming six months ago.

“No, absolutely not. Again, it was not something that we were actively pursuing,” he said. “As I said, three years ago when I believe [Benson] reached out to Hunter Yurachek and Hunter came to me, I said, ‘Politely say no’ because we weren’t anywhere near ready. Three years later when the idea got floated, I think we’re in a much different position. Recognizing this was probably three months, three and a half, maybe four months total since that first phone call came in, it was quick, it was a lot of intense work, but clearly worth it.”

This story was originally published September 1, 2015 at 12:59 PM with the headline "CCU accepts offer to join Sun Belt Conference on ‘historic’ day for university."