CCU president: $20M indoor practice site big recruiting tool for powerhouse football team

Blink, and you would have missed it.

Within a matter of minutes on June 28, the state’s Fiscal Accountability Authority cleared the way for Coastal Carolina University to build a $20 million indoor practice facility.

“I got here in 2021, and when I sat down with our football staff the first thing I heard from our then head coach was just how important an indoor facility was, so this kind of became priority No. 1,” CCU President Michael T. Benson told The Sun News June 29.

Thursday’s vote may have happened fast, but it was the culmination of a yearslong effort by university leaders not only to provide its athletes with a modern site, but carve out more space for campus and community events.

“Our goal is to draw as many people onto the campus as we can, and this facility will really round out in so many ways the athletic component of our university,” Benson said.

Most of the cost is being paid for using $15 million from donor support — the largest in school history. A reserve account is covering the balance. CCU officials take $405 per semester from each student’s tuition for capital improvements.

At 93,000 square feet, the complex will be constructed just south of Brooks Stadium, with a Sept. 7 groundbreaking planned two days ahead of the Chanticleer football team’s home season debut against Jackson State.

It’s expected to open in January 2025.

“We have aspirations to compete certainly within the Sun Belt Conference, but beyond. We’ve been nationally ranked and played in three consecutive bowl games. And so I mean, this (the indoor facility) is a real inflection point for our athletic program,” Benson said.

Ballentine-based Contract Construction is the contractor. The firm’s portfolio includes turf replacements at Carolina Forest, Loris, Socastee and St. James high schools and an earlier expansion of Brooks Stadium.

According to documents provided to the state, the facility will be used by roughly 100 football players and 35 coaching and support staff and won’t lead to any hikes in student fees or tuition.

“An indoor practice facility will assist with alleviating conflicts among multiple sports for practice space which promotes student-athlete welfare by allowing more flexibility around student-athlete academic schedules,” CCU said in documents provided to the authority, which is led by Gov. Henry McMaster.

Features of the facility will include:

• A full-sized synthetic turf football field

• Coach’s tower

• Training room

• Video recording platforms

• Lighting and sound systems

• Restrooms

• Storage space

• High ceilings to allow for special teams’ work

• Metal roof panel system with a minimum 20-year warranty

With new head coach Tim Beck and the return of Grayson McCall — one of the nation’s best quarterbacks and the program’s most accomplished — the Chants are favored to once again take the Sun Belt Conference’s East title.

Many of the school’s biggest rivals including Appalachian State, Liberty, Marshall, Old Dominion and Troy all boast on their websites about maintaining modern indoor practice fields: A factor that could influence recruitment.

“This next step toward the completion of the indoor facility shows that we are continuing to elevate this program to the highest level,” Beck said.