Coastal Carolina, college football’s favorite underdogs, are back for more (with mullets!)

The Chanticleers are back in the FCS playoffs for the first time since 2010, and they’re rocking mullets to celebrate. There’s a new coach in town, and he’s got a winning streak going.

The coastal carolina football schedule 2020 is a college football team that has been underdogs for years. They are back with mullets!

CONWAY, South Carolina (AP) — After Coastal Carolina’s 30-27 road win over Louisiana in October, a few players asked coach Jamey Chadwell if he would grow a mullet if the team won the Sun Belt Conference title.

Chadwell felt he had nothing to lose by saying yes since the media had selected the Chanticleers to finish last in the Sun Belt East in the preseason.

Chadwell stated, “I told them, ‘Oh sure, I’ll do anything.’” “I had no notion we’d win the title, of course.”

The mullet-loving Chanticleers went 11-0 in the regular season, won the Sun Belt championship, and were the league’s first top-10 rated team in just their fourth year in the FBS. The FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl was their lone setback, a 37-34 overtime loss to Liberty. Chadwell, 44, stopped trimming his hair on the back of his head in February. The Tennessee native had a Camaro crash helmet that would have even Billy Ray Cyrus jealous by late August. He eventually had it cut a few days before the team’s season opener against The Citadel, which they won 52-14.

Chadwell stated, “It was killing me.” “You don’t think about it all the time, but as your hair becomes wet and longer, you start to notice it.”

This mullet scores an 8.7 out of 10 from sources (@sila SK elly).

What are your thoughts about it? pic.twitter.com/QzuW8CMZVY

July 22, 2021 — Coastal Football (@CoastalFootball)

With their unusual mascot, teal-colored “Surf Turf” playing field, flowing manes, and scrappy play, the upstart Chanticleers became America’s favorite underdog in a college football season unlike any other in 2020. They defeated Kansas on the road, shocked No. 13 BYU with just three days’ notice when Liberty canceled due to COVID-19 problems, and hosted College GameDay for the first time on campus.

What are the Chanticleers’ plans for a follow-up performance? We’ll find out when they play Kansas on Friday night (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2 and the ESPN App), marking the first time Brooks Stadium has hosted a Power 5 opponent.

“This year is a little different narrative because of our success,” linebacker Silas Kelly said at the Sun Belt media day. “People have a bullseye on us and you could call it pressure.” “But we’re still chosen to come last in our thoughts, and we have to bring that into this year and have the same attitude, mentality, and thinking that we had last year.”

Coastal Carolina and Appalachian State were named co-favorites to win the Sun Belt East this season. All but three starters return for the Chanticleers, including 11 super seniors who chose to return after the NCAA granted them an additional year of eligibility due to the coronavirus epidemic. According to Chadwell, his squad includes 96 scholarship players. Grayson McCall, who was a redshirt freshman in 2020 and rated 10th in overall QBR (82.2) among FBS players, is returning, as is the whole offensive line. CJ Marable (887 rushing yards) and defensive end Tarron Jackson (812 sacks) were the most notable departures.

The Chanticleers were 11-0 in the regular season last year, winning the Sun Belt championship and becoming the FBS’ first top-10 team. The FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl was their lone setback, a 37-34 overtime loss to Liberty. USA TODAY Sports’ David Yeazell

“They’re the greatest bunch of leaders I’ve seen in my time coaching,” Chadwell said of his returning seniors. “They’re the reason we’ve achieved so much success. They kept our men motivated throughout the epidemic. ‘We can’t control what’s going on, but we’re going to be ready just in case,’ they informed them. They kept them busy throughout the offseason with the tasks we needed to do.”

Chadwell said he and his coaches didn’t have to keep the Chanticleers grounded after they began winning because the upperclassmen did. Coastal Carolina ended 2019 with a 5-7 record, losing five times by a total of 24 points (it lost to Appalachian State and Louisiana by a combined 60 points). As a reminder, the squad donned “24” wristbands in 2020.

“It was very simple to start slapping yourself on the back when we began having success because we were America’s team, right?” Chadwell noted. “‘Coach, don’t worry about it,’ they replied when I met with our captains and leadership group. We’ll deal with it as a group. We’ll stay focused on what we need to do as a group.’”

Despite their success last season, the Chanticleers never forgot where they came from, starting from the ground up in the FBS. The school’s facilities mirrored those of an FCS program when Chadwell took over as head coach in January 2019 (he served as interim coach in 2017 when Moglia was on medical leave). The team lacked conference spaces for various roles. On most days, three position groups would gather in a big room, defensive backs in a room designated for Olympic sports, and other positions would congregate wherever they could find space.

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The operations facility at Coastal Carolina now has offices for each position coach as well as a meeting space for his players. The whole crew may convene in a much bigger space. Brooks Stadium’s capacity was expanded from 10,000 to 15,000 and then close to 21,000 with a two-phase, $31.8 million expansion that took place over the last three years.

Moglia, a former chairman and CEO of TD Ameritrade who is still the school’s chair of athletics and executive director of football, made a generous gift to begin the design of an indoor practice facility, which will include football operations, a weight room, coaches offices, recruiting area, academic enhancement center, and a dining hall, the university announced earlier this week. The athletic department must finish fundraising in order to construct the football complex.

“We won’t have a barbershop and a slide like some of these big-money organizations,” Chadwell said, “but we’ll have what we need.” “Hopefully, we’ll keep winning and attract additional investors.”

For the fall semester, the institution reported a roughly 10% increase in freshman admissions applications, including a record number of foreign students. The football team’s publicity “enhanced our reach throughout the country as well as globally,” Amanda Craddock, assistant provost for enrollment management, told the board of regents in May.

“When we moved to FBS, there were a lot of doubts,” Chadwell said. “Many people were perplexed as to why we were eliminating all of our competitors, but I believe that because of our success last year, they saw the potential of what this location might become. There’s pride in the town, and maybe even more so on campus, since students boast about attending a school with a national top-15 football team. Because of the value we’ve provided to our community and school, it’s been very beneficial to our program.”

The Chanticleers won their season opener last week in front of 16,236 people, the second-largest attendance in Brooks Stadium history. On Friday night, an even larger throng is anticipated.

“I cried a little bit,” defensive end Jeffrey Gunter said. “It was as though a fantasy had come true. When things weren’t going so well around here, no one was in the stands.”

Coastal Carolina returns all but three starters this season, including redshirt juniors Xavier Gravette (85) and Tyler Roberts. USA TODAY Sports’ David Yeazell

A “Home of the Chanticleers” sign and Chanticleer heads painted on sidewalks welcome tourists walking through downtown Conway, which is approximately 21 miles northwest of Myrtle Beach. Even with his growing mullet, Chadwell isn’t instantly recognizable wherever he goes.

“I can go into a restaurant and the vast majority of people will have no idea who I am,” he added. “At elementary school, my kids’ teachers would wave and say, ‘Good work, coach.’”

Solmaz, Chadwell’s wife, isn’t a fan of his new appearance. She was particularly irritated when Chadwell and his coaches competed in a moustache competition during preseason camp.

“It’s OK when she looks straight ahead because you can’t tell as much,” Chadwell said, “but when she glances to the side…,” he added. “As long as we keep winning, it will continue to expand.”

The coastal carolina mullet are back for more this year. They are the college football’s favorite underdogs, and they have brought their mullets with them!