Qualla: Coastal Carolina University

Coastal Carolina University: Introduction

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sk5893, CC BY-SA 4.0. The deal was finalized at the Chat 'n' Chew, a small diner in Turbeville, South Carolina, halfway between Conway and Columbia. It was 1960, and the people negotiating wanted to bring a college to Horry County. They weren't quite sure what kind of college, only that the area needed one. Six decades later, the place they were building would beat the University of Arizona in Omaha for a national baseball championship — just hours before officially joining the Sun Belt Conference on July 1, 2016. Coastal Carolina University's story is full of moments like that: improbable, small-town, and somehow lasting.

Image: Sk5893 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Coastal Carolina University: A College Born at Night

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sk5893, CC BY-SA 4.0. Coastal began in 1954 as Coastal Carolina Junior College, founded by the Coastal Educational Foundation — a group of citizens determined to bring higher education to the South Carolina coast. The first classes met at night, in Conway High School, taught by part-time faculty. The ...

Image: Sk5893 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Coastal Carolina University: Independence and the Penny Tax

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sk5893, CC BY-SA 3.0. By 1991 enrollment had crossed 4,000, and the Educational Foundation began pushing for full independence from USC. On July 1, 1993, Governor Carroll Campbell signed the bill on the steps of the Singleton Building, and Coastal Carolina University was born. In the 2010s, Horry Coun...

Image: Sk5893 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Coastal Carolina University: Chanticleers

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit LittleT889, CC BY-SA 4.0. The mascot is a literary joke that stuck. In the mid-1960s, a group of students and their English professor proposed a new mascot to replace the Trojans — something that paired with USC's Gamecock but gave the school its own identity. They landed on the Chanticleer, the proud roo...

Image: LittleT889 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Coastal Carolina University: Omaha and a Teal Field

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit MBTeacher716, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 2016, the Chanticleers baseball team won the College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, beating Arizona 4-3 in the deciding game. It was the university's first national title, and it arrived just hours before Coastal officially joined the Sun Belt Conference. The foo...

Image: MBTeacher716 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Coastal Carolina University: Waties Island and the Sea Grant

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Greenstrat, Public domain. Behind the athletics is a university with a serious scientific identity. Coastal is a national sea-grant institution and owns part of Waties Island, an Atlantic barrier island that serves as a living laboratory for marine science students. The Gupta College of Science — renamed i...

Image: Greenstrat | Public domain