I fell off my chair

[grimmy50]

I was reading the paper at lunch yesterday and saw that Coastal Carolina was ranked 18th in the DI-AA top 25. After I picked myself off of the floor and came to my senses, I checked the paper againg to make sure it wasnt a missprint. How in the freakin' world does Coastal Carolina build a program overnight into a ranked contender?

I was in Myrtle Beach for vaca, and they (CC) were media blitzing that town. There is no big time pro or college football on the coast, and the locals seemed to be rallying around the Chants. I believe they even have a TV deal. Where do they recruit? Coast towns are mainly tourist attractions and retired folks haven - not exactly a recruiting base to build a college football program at any level. Can anyone on this board list their secret to success? I know there is really nothing LU can glean from them because LU is a recruiting anomoly as previously discussed. Just wondering how CC did it.....

[Coastal89]

It started by hiring an athletics director that was committed to football. Warren Koegel played at Penn St, had six years in the NFL, and is on the I-AA Championship committee at Chattanooga.

Next, four years before the program started they put together a top notch group of consultants including Fisher DeBerry, thingy Sheridan and Roman Gabrial all of whom living here or own property here.

This group then suggested this best head coach they could find from the D-II ranks. It just happens that Coach Bennett grew up only 150 miles from Coastal and has recruited the state for the past 15 years as an assistant at Clemson and Newberry and as head coach at Catawba for seven years.

Also, as you mentioned, the community support is great. The school is very welcoming to alumni and the public on game days by allowing tailgating which helps create an atmosphere that rivals larger I-A schools.

As far as recruiting, Coastal has students and alumni from 48 states so we're not an unknown school. However with the contacts that our coachs have in the southeast most players come from SC, NC and Ga.

[grimmy50]

Wow! Now that is a model to build other college football programs off of. Thanks for the insight.