The Roost

Kost takes job at Morehead State

Longtime Coastal Carolina assistant women’s basketball coach Mark Kost, who served as the program’s interim head coach the second half of last season, has accepted a job at Morehead State in Kentucky.

Kost will be the top assistant for head coach Tom Hodges. He was one the finalists interviewed for Coastal’s head coaching job in April after veteran coach Alan LeForce retired, but that job went to Jaida Williams.

“I’m excited,” Kost said by phone from Kentucky on Tuesday. “Fresh start. I’m going to be working for a great guy, which I’ve been working for a great guy for the past decade. Who you’re working with determines your happiness and your job [satisfaction], and I think this is going to be similar -- somebody I enjoy working with.”

The Morehead State women went 9-21 last season and were left with a vacancy when former associate head coach Eric White was hired as the director of operations for the women’s program at Ole Miss.

“The head coach here lost his right-hand man that he’d been friends with for years and never thought he would lose,” Kost said. “He was in a search for someone with experience that he could trust in that position. He and I didn’t know each other real well, but a couple head coaches got us together and got us to talk.”

Kost said he’s excited for the opportunity to coach in the Ohio Valley Conference and be closer to he and his wife’s family. But after spending 10 years at Coastal, it’s tough to have to leave, he added.

“There are a lot of things I’m going to miss about Coastal and the community since we were there for so long,” he said.

| Ryan Young, ryoung@thesunnews.com

NCAA APR report brings good news for CCU men's basketball

The NCAA released its annual Academic Progress Rate figures Tuesday and due to poor performance in the classroom 18 Division I teams will be ineligible for the 2013-14 postseason, but Coastal Carolina doesn't have to worry about such sanctions.

The Chanticleers' men's basketball program, which looked to be at risk a year ago, scored a perfect 1,000 for the 2011-12 academic year -- the most recent year evaluated -- to raise its multi-year APR from 909 to 921.

Teams must achieve a 900 multi-year APR (which includes the last four years) or a 930 average over the two most recent years to be eligible for the postseason. That threshold is set to rise next year to a 930 multi-year APR or a 940 two-year average. 

Regardless, CCU athletic director Hunter Yurachek is confident that coach Cliff Ellis' men's basketball program is on track to exceed those standards going forward while adhering to an improvement plan put in place last year.

"I think we will be in good shape moving forward under this plan," Yurachek said. "Again, the multi-year [number] takes into account four rolling years, so we'll add this 1,000 score with a couple of lower scores and we'll have to continue to be in the high 900s to stay where we need to stay. I anticipate being able to retain that."

APR accounts for eligibility and graduation and retention rates. The Coastal men's basketball program scored an 854 single-year APR last year, after which an improvement plan was implemented that includes a limit of three junior college transfers on the roster at any one time and a limit of two in any recruiting class. The athletes are also asked to sign an academic plan before each year that is monitored by the coaches and academic support staff.

"1,000 is always the goal, and for coach Ellis and his staff and their student-athletes to achieve that level of success is phenomenal after one year in this plan," Yurachek said. "This goes back to the '11-'12 class, so this is the year we had six student-athletes who graduated -- one of which was Sam McLaurin, who transferred [to Illinois]. Because he transferred eligible, we don't lose a retention point for Sam. ... This plan is starting to move us in the right direction."

As for this academic year -- which will be reflected in the 2014 APR scores -- the Chants figure to be penalized for Danny Nieman, who was dismissed from the program and university prior to this past season. But Yurachek said there is potential to appeal the circumstances of that situation in hopes of not being penalized.

"But other than that, I don't see any other blips," Yurachek said.

The average APR for Division I men's basketball programs in the latest report is 952. The six men's basketball teams ineligible for the postseason next year due to poor APR scores are Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Mississippi Valley State, New Orleans, Florida International, Grambling State and Alabama State.

There are also three football programs, two baseball programs, two women's volleyball programs, two men's indoor and outdoor track programs and one women's basketball team facing postseason bans.

Another 18 programs with APRs below 900 are facing penalties such as restrictions on practice and regular-season competition next year.

Coastal's football program scored a 936 multi-year APR (Division I average for the sport was 949 in this report), baseball scored a 956 (average is 965) and women's basketball scored a 971 (average is 972). The women's golf team was the only Chants' program to score a 1,000 multi-year APR this time.

| Ryan Young, ryoung@thesunnews.com

Projected pitching matchup for Friday -- CCU vs. Oklahoma

Coastal Carolina baseball coach Gary Gilmore said junior right-hander Tyler Herb will get the start Friday as the Chanticleers open NCAA regional play against Oklahoma in Blacksburg, Va.

Herb threw six scoreless innings last Tuesday in the Chants' Big South tournament opener in his first extended outing since early April. He had been out with a sore shoulder, but his performance against Longwood last week was encouraging.

"I thought he threw real well there," Gilmore said. "He didn't have great velocity, but he threw a lot of strikes and sunk the ball and if we can keep the ball on that turf [at Virginia Tech] ... the more groundballs we can throw, the better we'll be."

That outing lowered Herb's earned-run average to 4.04 while improving his record to 6-1. He's the most experienced starter on the Chants' staff, and Gilmore believes, the best matchup Coastal has for Oklahoma.

"They've got six right-handed bats in that lineup that are very good and [we'll] try to negate that a little bit with Tyler and hope that he can have a good day throwing strikes and have his best stuff again," Gilmore said.

The bigger question for the Chants, though, is what they'll be able to do against the other guy on the mound.

Gilmore expects Oklahoma to start hard-throwing right-hander Jonathan Gray, who is projected to be perhaps the top pick in the upcoming Major League Baseball amateur draft. Gray is 9-2 with a 1.55 ERA and 127 strikeouts in 110 innings this year.

"He's like 94-100 [miles per hour] in every report I got," Gilmore said. "The Dodgers scouting director is a very dear friend of mine, and I talked with him the other night. He gave me a glowing report about what we're getting ready to face. The thing is, it's a great opportunity for our kids. You come into this program and you want to play professional baseball, those are the kind of guys your'e going to face in life. You've got to realize it's a challenge, it's an opportunity. You can't look at it as a negative. I mean, heck, we want to play the best and have an opportunity to beat the best and this young man's going to give a great challenge to us."

| Ryan Young, ryoung@thesunnews.com

 

Gilmore doesn't expect Remillard to play again this season

The Coastal Carolina baseball team got some great news and some not so great news this week.

The Chanticleers learned Monday that they'll once again be competing in the NCAA regionals, receiving an at-large bid to extend their streak of consecutive appearances to seven seasons, but they'll likely be doing it without one of their top hitters.

Sophomore catcher Will Remillard, who was limited to six innings during the Big South tournament last week due to his ailing back, is not expected to return to action this week after meeting with doctors, coach Gary Gilmore said.

"Yesterday, our first doctor visit was not great. He's got some type of stress issue there in his back. So he flew home this morning to go to a specialist at home and get a second opinion to make 100 percent sure that he has peace of mind," Gilmore said Wednesday. "From there, we'll just see what the doctors say. As of yesterday I assumed -- and at this moment still assume -- that he's out for the rest of the year."

Remillard is batting .282 this season and leads the Chants in doubles (13) and RBIs (39). He was replaced behind the plate last week by senior Josh Powell, who is hitting .148 for the year.

| Ryan Young, ryoung@thesunnews.com

Big South commish on VMI's future

VMI men's basketball coach Duggar Baucom had some interesting comments earlier this week at a Roanoke Valley Sports Club meeting, suggesting that the Keydets' return to the Southern Conference was all but finalized.

As reported by the Roanoke Times' Randy King, Baucom told the crowd, "The Southern Conference did visit two weeks ago on a Wednesday [May 8] and all indications are that we're going to go back to the Southern Conference. It will be formally announced, I think, May 30th or 31st at the Southern Conference meeting."

VMI was a part of the Southern Conference from 1924-2002 before joining the Big South Conference. 

I asked Big South commissioner Kyle Kallander about this Wednesday while he was attending the Big South baseball tournament in Lynchburg, Va., and not surprisingly, he would not confirm that such a move was imminent.

Asked Wednesday if he had been informed by VMI it was leaving the Big South, he said no. Asked if he expected VMI to bolt the conference, he stayed neutral.

"Until such time as we get official notification, we're hopeful VMI's going to remain in the Big South Conference," Kallander said. "They've been a great member. It's been a mutually beneficial relationship since they've been in. So we'll see."

He did acknowledge that VMI has been open about its discussions with the SoCon, however.

"VMI has been very up front and honest with us about the conversations, so there are no surprises here at all," he said. "So we understand where they're coming from."

If VMI does exit the Big South, that would leave the conference with six football-playing members ... at least until Liberty follows through on its intentions of moving up to an FBS conference. The Big South added Monmouth, starting in 2014, to replace departed member Stony Brook and push the league back to seven teams. The league must have six football-playing members to maintain its automatic bid into the FCS playoffs, a status that could be in jeopardy if both VMI and Liberty leave before the conference can find another school to join.

"Our conversations are ongoing about continuing to expand our football membership and really look at our membership overall," Kallander said. "So regardless of what VMI decides to do, we will continue to look at expanding our football membership. It's a priority for us."

Here's the full story from the Roanoke Times on Baucom's comments:

http://www.roanoke.com/sports/colleges/1947751-12/vmi-coach-says-keydets-return-to-socon-nearly.html

| Ryan Young, ryoung@thesunnews.com

Remillard hopeful to return to action Friday for Chants

LYNCHBURG, Va. Sophomore catcher Will Remillard has played just one inning this week for Coastal Carolina due to an ongoing bout of back spasms, but he expressed optimism that he might return to the lineup Friday.

“It’s getting better,” he said as the team gathered for practice Thursday afternoon. “It’s just a little muscle spasm, so I should be back hopefully tomorrow to play.”

Coach Gary Gilmore didn’t sound so certain, and his inclination is to be as cautious as possible with the Chanticleers’ RBI leader.

“In a perfect world, if I knew we were in [the NCAA tournament field], I’d just sit him out and not take a chance because we desperately need him in the regionals if we’ve got any shot of winning it,” he said. “I think we’ll just kind of see how it plays out today, how he feels tomorrow. I’m guessing catching is out, but we [possibly] could stick him at first. We need his bat. That’s a huge void without him in there, so hopefully it’s getting better.”

Remillard is batting .285 with two home runs and team-high 13 doubles and 39 RBIs. Senior Josh Powell has been filling in admirably behind the plate and is 2-for-7 with two RBIs in the tournament despite hitting just .163 for the season.

“At the end of the day, to do something to him and eliminate him from catching behind the plate in a regional would be kind of a huge shame for us because I really think we desperately need him behind the plate,” Gilmore said. “Nothing against J.P., [but Remillard] is our guy back there. He’s our equalizer defensively and gives us a great opportunity to defend and use his arm as a weapon.”

| Ryan Young, ryoung@thesunnews.com

Liberty's Toman says bring on Coastal ...

LYNCHBURG, Va. Incredibly and almost unbelievably, the Coastal Carolina baseball team has won its last 20 games against Big South rival Liberty.

And the teams will now clash again Friday in the Big South tournament semifinals, which elicited an interesting comment from Liberty coach Jim Toman on Thursday night after the Flames' 3-2 win over Radford.

“That’s exactly who we want to play because they’ve owned us for four or five years, and it would be fitting if we could come out and beat them,” Toman said. “If we beat them in that early game, then we’ve got to come back and beat them again, and that is a tough thing to do because they’ve been the best program in our conference since I’ve been here. But we’re going to show up tomorrow, I know that -- no matter what the history is.”

Liberty senior Justin Sizemore, who hit the game-winning home run in the top of the ninth inning Thursday night, had this to say:

"We've got to get it done. We haven't beaten them in a long time. All the seniors are fired up. We want to beat them. None of us have beat them since we've been here, and it's a big game for us -- we've got to come out and push and strive and do everything we can to beat them."

| Ryan Young, ryoung@thesunnews.com

Powell rises to the occasion for Chanticleers

LYNCHBURG, Va. Senior catcher Josh Powell was actually recruited to Coastal Carolina as a pitcher. He had played both ways during his time at Brunswick Community College in North Carolina, but it was his radar gun readings that had the attention of the Chanticleer coaches.

It's interesting how things work out sometimes.

"He hurt his arm before he ever got here," Chants coach Gary Gilmore said. "He was going to be, we thought, a fairly good conversion guy. He was [throwing] 92-93 when we recruited him. By the time he got to us, he was a middle-80s guy and he never did get it back. We needed another catching guy with the situation that we had [last season], and he said, 'Well, hey, I'll stay in school long enough if I'll get a chance to play.' It's been a godsend that he stayed."

Powell delivered a two-out two-run RBI single to centerfield in the bottom of the second inning Tuesday against Longwood and later clubbed a double in the game for his first career multi-hit game with the Chants. He entered the day with a .156 average (7-for-45) over his two seasons with Coastal.

"Will, he's been the anchor of our team all year," Powell said. "Obviously, he's our middle-of-the-lineup guy. We depend on him to score runs, and when he's healthy you can't get any better than him. When they called on me, I felt ready. ...

"We have six seniors on the team -- this is our last time getting to do it, so this is huge for me. I love this team. It's a great group of guys, and I want to be able to perform at my highest level for them."

With Remillard's back ailing, the Chants will be counting on a lot more than they expected from Powell during the remainder of the Big South tournament this week.

| Ryan Young, ryoung@thesunnews.com

Remillard questionable for tournament return

LYNCHBURG, Va. While the Coastal Carolina baseball team rolled to a lopsided win over Longwood on Tuesday, the Chanticleers didn't exactly make it through the first day of the Big South tournament unscathed.

Sophomore catcher Will Remillard lasted just one inning before having to be removed due to the back problems that also caused him to miss the team's regular-season finale. And after the game Tuesday, Chants coach Gary Gilmore suggested that the team will likely have to do without Remillard behind the plate for the rest of the week.

Gilmore's hope is that he can at least get the sophomore slugger and his team-high 39 RBIs into the lineup again in some way, even if that means playing him out of position.

"It's going to be one of [those] things where it's probably going to be very hard to get him well the rest of this year," Gilmore said. "I'm hoping if we can get him well enough to hit, I'll start playing him at first. We've done that a few times. I've got to have his bat in there if I can."

Remillard, who is batting .285 with two home runs and a team-high 13 doubles in addition to his considerable run production, told Gilmore he aggravated his back injury while trying to make a throw down to second base Tuesday. He was pulled from the game in the top of the second inning and replaced with senior Josh Powell, who just so happened to respond with the best game of his Coastal career while going 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.

"You get one inning into the game and you have to take your RBI leader and starting catcher out," Gilmore said, bemoaning the bad break. "[But] Josh Powell did an absolutely just fantastic job. He's picked us up several times when we've been in situations like that during the year. He did it last weekend when we had to take Will out, so we're very comfortable with him."

| Ryan Young, ryoung@thesunnews.com

Immediate reaction as CCU men's track and field and XC programs saved from cuts

Coastal Carolina men’s track and field and cross country coach Jeff Jacobs was in Atlanta with his team on the bus back from a training session Friday when he received a phone call from CCU athletic director Hunter Yurachek confirming that both programs had been spared from previously announced cuts.

Earlier in the day, the university’s board of trustees rescinded its previous order that $1 million be shaved from the school’s operating budget -- including $250,000 from the athletic department budget.

Last week, the university had announced that it would achieve that athletics savings by discontinuing the Chanticleers’ men’s track and field and cross country programs after the 2013-14 school year, but a little more than a week later, efforts by the team and its supporters have been rewarded.

“We’re ecstatic,” Jacobs said by phone right after speaking with Yurachek. “The team heard the news on the bus. We had literally just come back from doing a workout at the track. They were yelling and ecstatically happy. We’re so grateful that this has happened.”

Jacobs had spoke during the board of trustees athletic committee meeting on Thursday and presented his case for why the programs should remain -- including that men’s track and field provides the most opportunities of any team to in-state minority males and that considering most of the nearly 40 athletes on the team aren’t on full scholarship, cutting the programs could actually cost the university money through loss of enrollment.

“I felt like we did everything we could and I made every point I could and no point I made was refuted in the meeting, so I felt like there was a chance. But my optimism was low,” Jacobs said. “I knew it would be very difficult to do, for them to overturn an administrative decision. How they ultimately managed to do that, I don’t know. But I’m so, so thankful for the guys who are here now and the guys who will be here in the future that this opportunity is still available for men’s track and field and cross country at Coastal Carolina.”

| Ryan Young, ryoung@thesunnews.com