Big South championship events moved from CCU in wake of Sun Belt agreement

In the wake of Coastal Carolina’s announcement last month that it would be leaving the Big South Conference for the Sun Belt Conference effective July 1, there were loose ends left untied and key decisions pending on what the move would mean for the league championship events scheduled to be hosted by the Chanticleers.

Several answers to that particular question were discussed over the last month before the conference announced Tuesday that the men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and track and field championships scheduled to be hosted in Conway/Myrtle Beach this academic year would be relocated and that the basketball tournament sites would be put out to bid.

Coastal Carolina officials say that after the university contested the Big South’s initial interpretation of its bylaws – which would have prohibited the Chants from hosting championship games or events in any scenario – there was an understanding that the basketball tournaments would be hosted by the highest seed and that the Chants would still be eligible to host if they earned the top seed. Very quickly, they say, that changed to a scenario that would ensure no opportunity for Coastal Carolina to host the Big South basketball championships, and they are frustrated by the turn of events.

Big South commissioner Kyle Kallander, meanwhile, said in a phone interview Tuesday night that allowing the highest seed to host the basketball tournament was an option on the table discussed by the league’s athletic directors, but that it was never approved through a final vote of the conference’s presidents/CEOs.

The differing perspectives and acknowledged frustration are the first public reflection of the strains of the Chants’ separation from the Big South.

“The league interpreted the bylaws to encompass [that CCU would be prevented from] any sort of hosting, whether it was your turn in the rotation, whether it was a predetermined site, whether it was a site that was determined by performance. So basically we were going to be out the ability to host under any circumstances,” Chants athletic director Matt Hogue said, explaining the timeline of events. “We announced we were leaving, they interpreted their bylaws to encompass any [hosting of championship events] and we disputed that.

“They voted unanimously for that plan, to feature a [basketball] tournament based on better seeding. They were prepared to move on, but we contested [for our right to host as a high seed because] we felt like that action was punitive to our athletes because they would not be allowed to host events they earned. That ensued the last month, three or four weeks with the presidents negotiating. ... Last week they and our president reached an agreement and that agreement was that we would be allowed to host championships or games we earned the right to host. So we figured that was the plan we were moving forward under, and there was an immediate decision by the ADs in the league ratified by the presidents to go away from the earlier plan they had for the basketball tournament.”

Coastal Carolina formally announced Sept. 1 that it would be leaving the Big South, where it had been a charter member since 1983, for the Sun Belt while moving up from the NCAA’s FCS to FBS level in football. It was a week later that the Big South presented its initial response to the university in regard to its eligibility to host championship events, as Hogue explained, and the school challenged at that time that it should still be eligible to host in situations where the highest seed was designated that opportunity.

The Big South baseball tournament was scheduled to be played at Coastal Carolina’s new Springs Brooks Stadium this spring as part of an annual rotation through the conference’s schools and will be relocated to a site yet to be announced. The league’s outdoor track and field championships, which also rotate, will be moved to Liberty.

But the basketball tournament, which the Coastal Carolina men’s team won on its home court the last two years while clinching back-to-back NCAA tournament berths, was the one the school was hopeful to still have a shot at hosting.

The Big South had held both the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments at The HTC Center the last three years as part of a sponsorship agreement with the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce (or VisitMyrtleBeach.com). The initial three-year agreement was extended a year to run through 2016 and was set to pay the conference $100,000 in the final year of the extended deal before being terminated by the league.

Coastal Carolina agreed to relinquish its role as predetermined host in accordance with the conference bylaws, but university leaders believed there was an understanding that the tournament was moving to a format that would award hosting to the highest seed, still allowing the Chants an opportunity to earn the right to host.

“They voted on a revised tournament plan in a September meeting I sat in on as the other 10 athletic directors voted to change the format for men’s and women’s [basketball], and in particular the men’s tournament would have featured the [highest] seed hosting the quarterfinals, semis and finals, similar to past years. That was the plan going forward,” Hogue said. “That was voted upon before we moved forward to challenge the interpretation of the bylaws because we had concerns we would lose the opportunity to host those events [even as the high seed]. The next few weeks the conversation at that point was really at the president’s level to determine what the agreement would be.”

An email sent from Kallander to CCU President David DeCenzo on Oct. 2, obtained by The Sun News, stated “The CEOs have approved the following points that you and I agreed to earlier this week.”

Those included: “1. The Big South will allow Coastal Carolina’s teams and student-athletes to be eligible for the conference championships for the 2015-16 seasons. 2. Coastal Carolina will not host predetermined conference championships for the 2015-16 seasons, and the parties agree to terminate the contract for hosting the 2016 Big South basketball championships. 3. Coastal Carolina will be allowed to host championships with ‘earned seed’ formats (i.e. higher seed hosting a game or games).”

DeCenzo responded on Oct. 6, “Regarding your email, this is acceptable to us,” while noting the university had no control over any issues the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce might raise.

Kallander said the agreement to allow Coastal Carolina to host championship events if earned as a top seed was separate from the conference’s decision on what format to adopt for the basketball tournaments.

“We ultimately agreed to that, but at that point final action hadn’t been taken on the basketball tournament,” he said. “So after that agreement was reached the conference discussed the championship. … There had been no final decision at that point on what we were going to do with basketball.”

While the conference maintains that the decision to put the basketball tournaments out to bid was unrelated to Coastal Carolina’s agreed-upon eligibility to host under a seed-based format, the university leadership remains frustrated and curious by the timeline of events and the ultimate outcome.

“You always want these things to go smoothly, but yes there is frustration,” Hogue said. “At the end of the day, we want our program and we want our athletes to have clarity about where they’re going to play, we want our programs to logistically plan where they’re going to be. No one likes to have an undetermined status, no one likes to be in limbo with these things.”

Said DeCenzo: “Our whole focus in this last year in the Big South as it relates to tournaments is to ensure that in no way do our student-athletes get penalized by our pending move July 1 to the Sun Belt.”

Kallander said bids to host the basketball tournaments are due Oct. 21. After taking place jointly the last three years, the men’s basketball championship will run from March 3-6 with the women’s tournament following March 10-13.

The Chants are still eligible to host first round games of the men’s and women’s soccer tournaments that follow “earned seed formats” for the opening round before moving to one location and in the women’s lacrosse tournament.

This story was originally published October 13, 2015 at 5:57 PM with the headline "Big South championship events moved from CCU in wake of Sun Belt agreement."