Coastal Carolina Chanticleers football

Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
	2023 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers football team
First season	2003
Head coach	Tim Beck ; 1st season, 8–5 (.615)
Stadium	Brooks Stadium; (capacity: 20,000)
Field	James C. Benton Field
Year built	2003
Field surface	FieldTurf
Location	Conway, South Carolina
NCAA division	Division I FBS
Conference	Sun Belt Conference
Division	East
Past conferences	Big South
All-time record	165–89 (.650)
Bowl record	2–2 (.500)
Playoff appearances	Div. I FCS: 6 (FCS)
Playoff record	Div. I FCS: 4–6 (FCS)
Conference titles	8 (7 Big South, 1 Sun Belt)
Division titles	2
Rivalries	Liberty (rivalry); Appalachian State
Consensus All-Americans	1
Colors	Teal, bronze, and black;
Mascot	Chauncey
Outfitter	Under Armour
Website	GoCCUsports.com

The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers football team represents Coastal Carolina University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. The Chanticleers are members of the Sun Belt Conference, fielding its teams at the FBS level since 2017. The Chanticleers play their home games at James C. Benton Field at Brooks Stadium in Conway, South Carolina.

Their head coach is Tim Beck, who was hired after head coach Jamey Chadwell was hired by Liberty.

History

It was announced in the late 1990s that CCU would establish a football squad in the coming years. The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers football program played its inaugural season in 2003 on campus at Brooks Stadium. The team's first coach was David Bennett, who held the position from the team's inception until December 9, 2011. The university named Joe Moglia, former CEO of TD Ameritrade, as its new head coach on December 20, 2011.^[2]

In the program's short history, the team has defeated such traditional Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) powers as James Madison University (ranked No. 1 at the time), Furman University, Wofford College, and the University of Montana. The program has won seven Big South Conference championships and has had several former players enter professional NFL careers.

Coastal's primary football rivals in FCS play are Liberty and Charleston Southern.^[3]^[4]^[5]

Coastal Carolina's first full season as an FBS team was in 2017. The Chanticleers earned the program's first win as an FBS program when they played The UMass Minutemen on September 2, 2017. The final score to this game was 38–28. The Chanticleers had a tough time winning games during the 2017 season, as they went on to finish the year with a record of 3–9. Ending the 2017 season on a positive note, Coastal Carolina earned the program's first Sun Belt Conference win with a 13–7 win over the Idaho Vandals. Idaho has since left the Sun Belt Conference. The final game of the 2017 season was the program's second Sun Belt Conference win with a 28–17 win at home against the Georgia Southern Eagles. The Chanticleers first FBS season in 2017 proved that, with the proper corrections made to the team, the Chanticleers could be a good football team. Building off their momentum built at the end of the 2017 season, Coastal Carolina took the next step as an FBS program and finished the season with a record of 5–7. Some notable wins for the Chanticleers during their 2018 season were against the UAB Blazers, Louisiana Lafayette Ragin Cajuns, and Georgia State Panthers.

David Bennett era (2003–2011)

In 2006, the Chanticleers made school history when the team received its first FCS playoff berth, also the first playoff berth for the Big South Conference, losing a first-round contest to Appalachian State. Appalachian State would go on to win the FCS national championship that season.

In 2010, Coastal went to the playoffs for the second time after winning the Big South Championship (a three-way tie with Liberty and Stony Brook) and received the Big South's first ever automatic playoff bid. The Chanticleers returned to the playoffs in 2012 and 2013. On November 9, 2014, Coastal was ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation, a first for the school and the Big South Conference.^[6]

On September 11, 2010, Coastal Carolina played a five-overtime game against the Towson Tigers, the longest game in school history. Coastal Carolina went to Towson, Maryland, looking for their first win of the season after losing the previous week to West Virginia. Coastal Carolina would lose the game 47–45.

The Chanticleers left the Big South Conference at the end of the 2015–16 school year and joined the Sun Belt Conference, initially as a non-football member.^[7] At that time, the football team began a two-year transition to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).^[8] The first season of the transition in 2016 was spent as an FCS independent; the Chanticleers officially joined Sun Belt football July 1, 2017, with full bowl eligibility following in 2018.^[9]

Jamey Chadwell era (2019–22)

Jamey Chadwell was introduced as the program's third head coach on January 18, 2019.^[10] He previously served as the team's interim head coach in 2017 when head coach Joe Moglia took a medical leave of absence.^[11]

2020 season

On October 14, 2020, Coastal Carolina got its first win against a ranked FBS team by defeating No. 21 Louisiana 30–27.^[12] Following the win, the AP ranked Coastal Carolina No. 25, making it their first time as a national ranked team. The same week, the College Football Playoff rankings listed Coastal at No. 20. For the remainder of the regular season, Coastal remained in the AP Top 25. Their highest AP ranking that year was #14 in the fourteenth week, with a CFP ranking of No. 18 the same week. Their original opponent for Week 14 (Dec 5th) was Liberty, but Liberty canceled the game citing concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Coastal’s new opponent for that week became No. 13 BYU.^[13]

The undefeated Chanticleers created national attention and interest in the team, and their matchup with BYU led ESPN to broadcast College GameDay from Conway on December 5.^[14] Coastal won 22–17, with the game ending when BYU was stopped one yard short of the goal-line. The victory resulted in Coastal Carolina ranked No. 11 by the AP Top 25 Rankings and No. 13 by the CFP Playoffs for Week 15. With the conference championship game scheduled for December 19th, CCU was set up for another showdown with Louisiana. However, they would have to settle for a co-championship with Louisiana, with both named champions after the Chanticleers found themselves unable to play when a positive COVID-19 test was found within the CCU team.^[15]

Coastal ended their season against Liberty in the first bowl game in team history, the Cure Bowl, losing 37–34 in overtime.^[16]

2021 season

CCU was ranked No. 22 to start the season, and won their first six games to rise up to No. 15 before a loss to Appalachian State ended the streak. They won four of their next five games but finished second in the East Division. They were invited to the 2021 Cure Bowl where CCU defeated Northern Illinois 47-41 to earn the first bowl game victory in school history.^[17]^[18]

A game between Coastal Carolina and Army at Brooks Stadium in 2022

Conference affiliations

Big South Conference (2003–2015)
Sun Belt Conference (2016–present)

Championships

Conference championships

Coastal Carolina has won seven Big South Conference championships, winning two of them outright and five shared, and has won one Sun Belt Conference championship which was shared with Louisiana in the 2020 season. The 2020 Sun Belt Conference Football Championship Game was not played when Coastal Carolina was unable to participate due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[19]

Season	Conference	Coach	Overall Record	Conference Record
2004	Big South Conference	David Bennett	10–1	4–0
2005†	Big South Conference	David Bennett	9–2	3–1
2006	Big South Conference	David Bennett	9–3	4–0
2010†	Big South Conference	David Bennett	6–6	5–1
2012†	Big South Conference	Joe Moglia	8–5	5–1
2013†	Big South Conference	Joe Moglia	12–3	4–1
2014†	Big South Conference	Joe Moglia	12–2	4–1
2020†	Sun Belt Conference	Jamey Chadwell	11–1	8–0

† Co-champions

Division championships

Coastal Carolina won their first division championship in the 2020 season.

Year	Division	Coach	Opponent	CG result
2020	Sun Belt Conference - East	Jamey Chadwell	Louisiana	No Contest
2022	Sun Belt Conference - East	Jamey Chadwell	Troy	L 26-45

^ The 2020 championship game was not played due to Coastal Carolina being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic^[19]

Rivalries

Liberty

Coastal Carolina maintains a football rivalry with Liberty which began in 2003. The teams played every year from 2003 to 2016 and met in the 2020 Cure Bowl.

Postseason games

NCAA Division I FCS playoffs

Coastal Carolina made six appearances in the NCAA Division I Football Championship playoffs before moving to the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) in 2017, going 4–6.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
2006	First Round	Appalachian State	L 28–45
2010	First Round	Western Illinois	L 10–17
2012	First Round Second Round	Bethune-Cookman Old Dominion	W 24–14 L 35–63
2013	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals	Bethune-Cookman Montana North Dakota State	W 48–24 W 42–35 L 14–48
2014	Second Round Quarterfinals	Richmond North Dakota State	W 36–15 L 32–39
2015	First Round	The Citadel	L 38–41

Bowl games

Coastal Carolina has participated in four bowl games, going 2–2.

Season	Coach	Bowl	Opponent	Result
2020	Jamey Chadwell	Cure Bowl	Liberty	L 34–37^OT
2021	Jamey Chadwell	Cure Bowl	Northern Illinois	W 47–41
2022	Chad Staggs (interim)	Birmingham Bowl	East Carolina	L 29–53
2023	Tim Beck	Hawaii Bowl	San Jose State	W 24–14

Head coaches

Coastal Carolina has had five head coaches.

Years	Coach	Record	Pct.
2003–2011	David Bennett	63–39	.618
2012–2016, 2018	Joe Moglia	56–22	.718
2017†, 2019–2022	Jamey Chadwell	39–22	.639
2022^	Chad Staggs	0-1	.000
2023-present	Tim Beck	8-5	.615

† Interim head coach in 2017 due to medical sabbatical taken by Joe Moglia.

^ Interim head coach for the 2022 Birmingham Bowl