Coastal Carolina officially joins the Sun Belt (Update)
The Sun Belt added Coastal Carolina as its 12th member on Tuesday.
The league announced Tuesday that the Chanticleers will join Sun Belt in all sports but football for the 2016-17 year, with the football program joining the fold for the 2017 season.
After multiple outlets reported the news Monday night, the conference confirmed it with a press conference Tuesday afternoon near Coastal Carolina’s Myrtle Beach, S.C., campus.
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“This is a great day for the Sun Belt Conference as we are very proud to have Coastal Carolina University join our membership,” said Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Karl Benson. “The Sun Belt is a growing conference with a bright future and Coastal Carolina makes a perfect fit as it too has seen a tremendous amount of growth and has all the tools necessary to move forward at the highest level of collegiate athletics.
Under the leadership of President David A. DeCenzo and Athletics Director Matt Hogue, I expect the Chanticleers to be competitive in all Sun Belt sports and to represent the conference in a first-class manner on and off the field.”
Coastal’s football program will compete in the Sun Belt in the 2017 season, but won’t be eligible to compete for postseason play until the 2018 season — it’s first year of full FBS status.
Coastal was reportedly voted in as a member over Eastern Kentucky, the other finalist for the 12th spot.
In football, the Chanticleers currently play at the FCS level in the Big South Conference and have reached the FCS playoffs in four of the past five seasons. As part of the transition to the FBS level, CCU’s Brooks Stadium, which currently holds 9,214 seats, will undergo renovations to “expand the facility to 20,000 seats.”
The addition of CCU will allow the Sun Belt to create divisions and a conference title game for football.
Appalachian State and Georgia Southern joined the league as full members in 2014, moving up from the FCS level. The league also added Idaho and New Mexico State as football-only members in 2014.
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