CCU coaches talk impact of step up into Sun Belt

A few hours after Coastal Carolina’s major announcement Tuesday that the university was accepting an invitation to join the Sun Belt Conference, longtime Chanticleer baseball coach Gary Gilmore was standing on the field inside Springs Brooks Stadium reflecting on the news of the day and what it all means for the future.

And his thoughts had surprisingly little to do with baseball or his own program.

“People don’t realize how much of a historic moment this really, truly was,” he said. “I mean I do because I’ve been here 20-some years and I played here a long time before that so I see where we’ve come from, and they hit the nail on the head today – you don’t realize how fast 10 years in football or whatever has been, how far we’ve come in that short period of time.”

While football dominated most of the immediate discussion concerning the big announcement Tuesday – and understandably so with Coastal Carolina set to make the leap from the NCAA’s second-tier Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) to the upper-tier Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) – Gilmore’s baseball program, Cliff Ellis’ and Jaida Williams’ basketball programs, Kelley Green’s softball program and so on stand to gain as well when the Chants officially become Sun Belt members in all other sports on July 1, 2016.

And yet, Gilmore and Ellis both directed their immediate thoughts back to football and what it means for the university as a whole before talking any more specifically.

Gilmore, in particular, has a depth of perspective few on campus can match, having been a student-athlete for the Chants in 1979-80 and the head baseball coach since 1996.

His teams accounted for much of Coastal Carolina’s national athletic profile before the football program took off, before men’s basketball started making NCAA tournaments, the men’s soccer program became a perennial national contender and other teams on campus mounted steady growth.

But it was Gilmore’s appreciation for what his colleagues have done in Brooks Stadium the last dozen years – from original football coach David Bennett laying the foundation to current coach Joe Moglia now elevating the Chants to the top of the FCS – that he was thinking about most on Tuesday.

“I’ll be honest, when I started here I never even thought football [would] be part of the equation,” he said. “And people don’t realize how impactful that decision was at this institution and how impactful, regardless of how some people perceive it, [it was that] we hired the very best person on the face of the earth we could have ever hired to start the football program here. And we have a guy in control of it right now that is one of the very best behind him.

“We’ve been so blessed by two perfect individuals at the perfect time and it’s just really catapulting everything we’ve done, to be very honest with you. And I truly believe that. Both of those men are dear friends and colleagues and what they did and are doing for this university, it’s far more than a lot of the rest of us put together because it has enabled this to happen. Baseball or basketball alone could not have taken us to this point. So this is a great thing for us.”

And the offshoot of that now – as Gilmore and Ellis also acknowledged – is that the increased profile in football that comes with joining one of the 10 FBS conferences also becomes a boon and a tool for all of the Chants’ athletic programs as they make this move to the Sun Belt.

“It’s going to be a tough league. It’s not going to be an easy transition because these teams can flat out play, but what you can now say at Coastal Carolina is you are FBS,” Ellis said. “I want you to hear those three letters – F-B-S. And that has huge value.”

In recruiting, in stature and, for many of the programs, in strength by association.

Overall, though, the impact of the change varies a little by sport.

How it breaks down

Ellis’ men’s basketball program has made back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances the last two years, but the Chants were saddled with a No. 16 seed each time, including a daunting opening matchup with eventual national runner-up Wisconsin this year despite Ellis’ public campaigning that his team deserved more respect from the selection committee.

The other reality in the Big South is knowing that the only way onto the bracket is by winning the conference tournament as the league has never received an at-large bid.

The conference champion of the Sun Belt, meanwhile, has received better than a No. 16 seed in seven of the last 10 years, including three No. 14s and two No. 12s. Additionally, in two of those years the league placed multiple teams in the tournament as former member Middle Tennessee was a No. 11 seed as an at-large entry in 2013 and South Alabama was a No. 10 seed as an at-large in 2008.

Although three of the schools who combined to earn seven of those 12 NCAA bids in the last 10 seasons – Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee and North Texas – have left for Conference USA in the past few seasons.

“I think the Sun Belt certainly ranks and is in a position where there are more bids,” Ellis said. “I think what Georgia State did this year in the basketball tournament [winning their first game as a No. 14 seed] shows their strength and prowess. If you look at teams over the years [from] the Sun Belt, they have produced. …

“If you win a regular-season championship, you have a better chance in the Sun Belt of going to the NCAA tournament than [in] a lot of other leagues.”

In women’s basketball, the Sun Belt has placed multiple teams in the NCAA tournament four times in the last decade.

As for baseball, the Big South actually ranked higher last year in the RPI – which factors in strength of schedule and results – finishing as the 10th best conference while the Sun Belt was 13th, according to WarrenNolan.com. But the comparison was significantly different the two previous years.

In 2014, the Sun Belt was the 11th-best baseball conference overall in the RPI while the Big South was 17th, according to the website, and in 2013 the Sun Belt ranked fifth while the Big South was 13th. That year, four Sun Belt schools finished with an RPI of 35 or better – including South Alabama (No. 17), Louisiana-Lafayette (No. 23), former conference member Florida Atlantic (No. 24) and Troy (No. 35) – and all reached the NCAA Regionals.

Louisiana-Lafayette made it all the way to the College World Series in 2000 and reached the NCAA Super Regionals each of the last two years.

The difference is even more pronounced in softball.

Last season, the highest rated Big South softball program in terms of RPI was Longwood at No. 72 while five Sun Belt schools ranked higher on the list. Those were Louisiana-Lafayette (No. 10), South Alabama (No. 28), Georgia State (No. 40), Troy (No. 61) and Texas State (No. 67).

At the top end of the league, Louisiana-Lafayette has reached the Women’s College World Series six times, most recently in 2014.

“The move to a conference like the Sun Belt where they have a couple top-25 teams and a team like Louisiana-Lafayette, that’s just a huge challenge but a huge opportunity for us,” Green said. “It opens up enormous possibilities in recruiting, and as a coach you always want to compete at the highest level. This allows us the ability to do that. ... We’re going to have a lot of work to do to be at the level of the Sun Belt, but we’re excited about it.”

The one program that won’t see a clear benefit from making the move is men’s soccer.

Shaun Docking’s Coastal Carolina teams have been the class of the Big South while making five straight NCAA tournaments and maintaining a steady presence in the national rankings.

The Sun Belt only has three present full-time members who sponsor the sport, though, and has had to rely on associate men’s soccer members to have the required six teams to qualify for an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament.

But the Big South hasn’t been a major boost to the Chants’ RPI either. Docking has annually stacked the early part of the schedule with a gantlet of games against ranked non-conference opponents to balance the RPI, and that will have to continue to be the case moving forward in the Sun Belt.

“The conference isn’t a great conference for soccer, but what it would hopefully allow us to do is schedule a couple more out-of-conference games where we can actually strengthen our schedule that way,” Docking said. “… So it could work out good.”

Also, the Sun Belt does not sponsor women’s lacrosse so Coastal Carolina will have to become an associate member of another conference in that sport. Athletic director Matt Hogue said the university is still considering its options there.

Meanwhile, in many of the other sports like volleyball, women’s soccer, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s track and field and cross country the difference in moving from the Big South to the Sun Belt is largely going to be seen in the depth of quality competition and in higher-rated programs at the top of the respective standings.

“I think you’re going to get this probably from every coach – the Sun Belt is obviously better, it’s stronger at the top,” Chants men’s tennis coach Chris Powers said. “The Big South is very good at tennis. The top six teams are all bunched together at a respectable RPI level, but the Sun Belt does the same thing and they’re probably 20-30 spots higher. What we’re looking at is having to get better to win championships, for sure.”

Said men’s and women’s track and field and cross country coach Jeff Jacobs: “The schools are bigger, there’s more schools with solid programs, there’s more [contenders].”

The big picture

Like Gilmore, though, the head coaches throughout the Coastal Carolina athletic department were generally just as interested in talking about what the conference shift will mean for the university as a whole.

CCU President David DeCenzo and the university leadership called Tuesday a historic day in officially accepting the Sun Belt invitation, and that sentiment was reiterated from the perspective of the coaches who have watched first-hand the growth of the school and its athletic programs.

“If you had asked me five or six years ago could we make a move to an FBS conference, I would have thought that’s crazy,” Jacobs said. “But so many things have happened in the last seven years in terms of capital improvements, the support levels and the success of the athletic programs on the national level across the board and expanded academic programs as well. The growth of Coastal has just been astronomical since I’ve been here in 11 years. It was very exciting to see us take that step. It will be a challenge for us in the beginning, but I think a challenge we’re ready for and the opportunity is incredible as a whole.”

That too was a familiar refrain from the coaches who will shepherd the Chants through this transition – the timing was right.

“I’ve been here for eight years, we weren’t ready two or three years ago. I will say unequivocally we are ready to make that move because of the vision of Dr. DeCenzo and the job that our coaches have done,” Ellis said. “And we’re all ready to take this challenge. It’s beautiful to see. We’re going to have to have support. People are going to have to step up. That fan base is going to have to continue to grow, we’re going to have to have financial support. But what an exciting time.

“You’re going to look back at this moment, and I don’t know how many of us will be around, but 10 years from now you’re going to look at this moment and say, ‘Wow, this is a huge moment.’ We’re here to pave the way.”

Standing on the baseball field Tuesday, Gilmore didn’t seem interested in talking about RPI ratings or strength of schedule or anything so specific.

He thought about what it’s taken to get to this point and what he now gets to be a part of with Coastal Carolina.

“I think it’s huge. I’ll be honest with you, I look at it way beyond the baseball program. It’s the next step forward and the next great challenge for our university,” Gilmore said.

“I look at the face of this place and how it’s changed in my 20-plus years here and I’m just so proud to be a part of it. I’m so proud that God helped lead me down decisions of not leaving here and seeing this. I mean, all these things are things I’ve always wanted for this school and wanted to be a part of, and I’m just so happy that I get to see it and be a part of it. Hopefully we can be a real representative member of the Sun Belt and keep moving forward.”

This story was originally published September 2, 2015 at 9:23 PM with the headline "CCU coaches talk impact of step up into Sun Belt."