Winthrop and Coastal’s last regular season meeting as conference foes Thursday
Winthrop and Coastal Carolina have met in each of the past two Big South Conference men’s basketball tournament championship games, so it’s not safe to call Thursday’s meeting between the two teams in Rock Hill the last ever.
Could be, though.
Coastal is leaving the Big South after 33 years in the league, the Chanticleers following the college football trade-winds to the Sun Belt Conference.
“I think to see that rivalry just end is just sad,” said Winthrop coach Pat Kelsey. “It’s one of the harsh realities of collegiate athletics these days with realignment and football and all of those other things.”
Have there been discussions about playing in the future? Kelsey hasn’t spoken with the legendary coach he’ll encounter Thursday night – Coastal’s Cliff Ellis – about playing in the future as non-conference foes. But he did say, “I think without question that’s a conversation I’d like to have with him after the season.”
Asked whether Coastal had considered continuing its rivalry with Winthrop outside of the Big South, Chanticleers athletics director Matt Hogue wasn’t sure, either.
“We really haven’t looked that far into it at this time,” he said.
Winthrop athletics director Tom Hickman has shepherded Eagle athletics the past 20 years, during which the Winthrop-Coastal rivalry matured from one played at Sullivan Middle School’s gym into the Big South’s best. But he’s retiring this summer and his replacement may not be as interested in crossing swords with Coastal. And Hogue pointed out that the Chanticleers’ men’s basketball schedule could already be full for next year.
But, he added, “I think you could see it continue in future years.”
The two schools have won 14 of the league’s 30 NCAA men’s basketball bids, a figure that doesn’t count the 1992-93 title that Coastal had to vacate for using ineligible players. Some of Winthrop and Coastal’s greatest moments on the hardwood have come at the expense of the other. The Eagles are 10-3 in Big South tourney finals, with all three losses coming against you know who. That kind of success – coupled with sweet, sweet schadenfreude – further strengthens a rivalry.
Throw in the other sports like soccer, baseball and even now women’s lacrosse and the rivalry spans the school year.
Both of our programs have played pretty significant roles in the championships through the years. And any time you have teams playing for high stakes that tends to intensify the rivalry, and that’s certainly been the case many times between our programs.
Coastal Carolina athletics director Matt Hogue
Having a rival is also crucial economically. No question that some of Winthrop’s best attendances at the Coliseum since the mid-1990s have been for either homecoming games or when the Chanticleers come to town. And the only Winthrop opponent that gets local businesses to alter their signage is Coastal Carolina.
“When you say the word ‘Coastal’ on our campus to the students there is a collective ‘Boo,’ ” said Kelsey. “That word just ignites passion in our students, and the more things that ignite passion in our students, the better. I’m all for those.”
The two schools have only played once in the regular season each of the past two years, as if the suddenly odd-numbered Big South was weaning the two fanbases off each other. But there are indirect benefits too – for example when ESPN, knowing the strength of a rivalry, decides to air its game on TV.
“Probably more so than financial, it helps to develop your brand,” said Hogue. “It helps to develop general interest in your program, which can affect a lot of areas. It’s one more tool to draw interest to your overall program, and therefore your institution.”
Rivals give schools a focal point for common dislike, which builds school spirit. Part of going to Clemson is an inherited hatred of the Gamecocks, and vice versa. Kelsey grew up with the Cincinnati-Xavier schism, then played and coached in the very rivalry that’s divided his family at least once a year for as long as anyone can remember. That’s been part of the experience at Winthrop and Coastal for the past 35-plus years.
It’s not clear which schools will take up the conference rival mantle for Winthrop and Coastal once the two part ways. Winthrop may lean in the direction of High Point and/or UNC Asheville. Coastal may gravitate its ire toward new Sun Belt buddies Appalachian State and Georgia Southern.
It’s much harder to create a rival from scratch, and Winthrop and Coastal could avoid having to do that by continuing to play in all sports. Having another school to hate is simply too important.
Bret McCormick: 803-329-4032, @RHHerald_Preps
@JDav_24 talks about @Winthrop_MBB defending Coastal's typically attacking 3-guard lineup pic.twitter.com/vNcvCy7WcF
— Bret McCormick (@Bretjust1T) February 18, 2016
Memorable moments
Winthrop and Coastal Carolina have played 81 times with the Chanticleers leading the series, 42-39.
1979 Winthrop and Coastal Carolina squared off in the Eagles’ first season of men’s intercollegiate basketball, played at the NAIA level. Neild Gordon’s Eagles pulled off a 79-77 win, Ronnie Creamer scoring the last of his team-high 22 points with two seconds remaining.
1986 Winthrop scored its first win over Coastal as an NCAA member, beating Russ Bergman’s Chanticleers 79-65 on Feb. 15, 1986, to avenge a 26-point loss earlier in the season.
1988 Steve Vacendak’s Winthrop team thrashed regular season champ Coastal 75-40 in the semifinals of the Big South tournament that year, the Eagles’ first conference tourney win over their rivals. The loss wasn’t the only memory from the game; Coastal’s Bergman wore a pink blazer during the lopsided defeat. The 35-point margin is Winthrop’s biggest in the 80-plus games played between the two schools.
1989-1995 Coastal Carolina won the next 15 games in the rivalry, Dan Kenney’s 94-95 Winthrop team finally snapping the losing skid with a 76-62 win on Feb. 1, 1995. Coastal star Tony Dunkin was a big reason for the Chanticleers’ 15-game run; he’s the only player in NCAA history to be named his conference’s player of the year four years in a row (90-93).
1998 Gregg Marshall led Winthrop to wins over the Chanticleers in seven of their first eight meetings under his watch, including the first, a 74-61 victory.
2006 Winthrop edged Buzz Peterson’s Coastal team 51-50 to win the Big South title and reach the NCAA tournament for the sixth time in eight years. The Eagles’ New Zealand ace, Craig Bradshaw, dropped in the game-winning hook shot with about nine seconds left to put the Eagles ahead, before James Shuler dived on a loose ball with a few seconds left to clinch the win, end the Chanticleers’ 12-game winning streak and send Winthrop back to the Big Dance.
2007 Winthrop again narrowly beat the Chanticleers, Coastal’s desperation heave coming up short in a 65-63 Eagles’ win on Jan. 27. The game was officially labeled a sell-out at the Winthrop Coliseum, where Winthrop went 15-0 that season. The Eagles beat Coastal again in the regular season finale, before winning the Big South tournament and knocking off Notre Dame in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
2010 Winthrop returned to the NCAA tournament after a 4-9 start to the conference season. Randy Peele’s team beat Coastal 64-53 in the Big South tourney final down in Conway for the Eagles’ second championship win on an opponent’s court in three years. Cliff Ellis’ team was 28-5 headed into the final against the Eagles.
2014, 2015 Coastal dropped Winthrop in consecutive Big South tourney championship games in Conway. Ellis became the fourth coach in college basketball history to take four different schools to the NCAA tournament, as his Chanticleers held Winthrop to combined 15-of-48 shooting from the 3-point arc in the two games. The Eagles’ NCAA tourney drought stretched to five years with the second loss.
This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 8:14 PM with the headline "Winthrop and Coastal’s last regular season meeting as conference foes Thursday."