For three years, Charleston Southern was the final obstacle between Coastal Carolina and the Big South Conference title.
But unless Gardner-Webb upsets Liberty that won’t be the case this year for the Chanticleers, who are guaranteed their first losing season in school history.
Still, the Chanticleers don’t want to go into the offseason on a down note.
“I told our players to play hard and give it all you got. You got a lot of time to recover after this ballgame,” Coastal coach David Bennett said. “We got a long way till we play the next one, and that one is against a little team called Penn State.”
Bennett said his ego and pride have have been hurt by his first losing season in 11 years as a head coach.
The Coastal coach already is pondering things that went wrong this season, from the arrests and dismals of three players to the loss of quarterback Ren McKinnon and the tough losses to Delaware State, Georgia Southern and Presbyterian.
Still, Bennett wasn’t looking for excuses.
“I’m the head coach and responsible for it all,” he said. “So if we aren’t doing what we need to, it’s my fault we haven’t won the games that we should.”
Bennett wasn’t somber in his assessment and even managed to poke fun at himself after hearing a Kiwanis Club choir sing at a recent speaking engagement.
“I told them their singing is about like my coaching this year,” he said. “I told them to stick to your day jobs.”
And Bennett will stick to his. He already is talking about hitting the recruiting trail and toughening the offseason program.
But before he thinks about those things, Bennett hopes for a win going into the offseason.
“When you win, you feel normal. When you lose you feel horrible,” he said. “It will be nice to go into the offseason feeling normal.”
Notes
According to the Sun News, Coastal has signed a four-year agreement to play Towson. The deal calls for games at Coastal in 2008 and 2011 and road games in 2009 and 2010. ... Fourteen seniors will play their final game today for Coastal. ... Trent Usher will return to action today and play receiver. ... Coastal running back Mike Tolbert has a conference-best 426 yards in three league games.
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