The Roost

Big South tourney pairings

The pairings were finalized on Saturday for the first round of the Big South men's basketball tournament. Coastal travels to VMI for a 7 p.m. first-round game on Tuesday. The Chants lost 103-102 at VMI on Jan. 10 but beat the Keydets 100-97 on Feb. 14.

Trade likely decides Thigpen's fate

Tyler Thigpen's status as the starting quarterback in Kansas City has been questioned all offseason, especially after the team hired a new coach and new general manager. The former Coastal all-American learned his fate on Saturday, when the Chiefs traded for Matt Cassel, who threw for 3,693 yards and 21 touchdowns in New England last season after Tom Brady's knee injury.

Motter on CCU-UT decision

Shortstop Taylor Motter played his best game for the Chants in Friday's win over Tennessee, a fitting time to have a breakout game considering his recruitment came down to the Volunteers and Chanticleers. I asked him after Friday's game what factor ultimately steered him toward Coastal. Without directly taking a shot at Tennessee's program, Motter made it clear he doesn't think the programs are on anything close to equal footing.

Baseball at the Beach washed out?

If the weather cooperates, four games will be played on the final day of the Baseball at the Beach on Sunday.

Coastal Carolina will play at doubleheader at Watson Stadium, meeting Brown at 11 a.m. and Florida International at 3 p.m. At BB&T Coastal Field in Myrtle Beach, Tennessee will meet Florida International at 11 a.m., and West Virginia will meet Brown at 3 p.m.

Welcome to The Roost

Welcome to The Roost, a blog devoted to Coastal Carolina athletics. I'm Josh Hoke. I've been a reporter with The Sun News for the past 25 months, 19 of them as the paper's high school beat reporter.

It would be foolish of me to try and hide my connection to the university. I'm an alum and a former football player at Coastal, arriving in 2002 in the program's infancy. This scenario -- a reporter covering not only his alma mater (that happens fairly regularly) but also a college program that he/she played for -- has probably never happened before. It certainly presents an interesting set of circumstances, which we considered thoroughly for several weeks before deciding that I should take the Coastal beat.

I feel confident in my abilities to present the facts -- the good, the bad and the ugly  -- to you in a fair manner. I don't work for Coastal Carolina nor can I allow my ties to the university impact my work. I'm an employee of The Sun News, and its best interests, along with those of our readers, are my primary concern. Still, I want to cover Coastal as thoroughly and fairly as possible.

I'm excited to interact with Coastal's fans in both this forum and via email. I will update this blog regularly with various tidbits from Coastal sports. If I have news that occurs during the day, it will be posted here. I will also try to post links of interest from around the nation several times per week. If I can assist you, you have any comments or questions or you have pleasure or displeasure to share, feel free to email me at jhoke@thesunnews.com.