Coastal Carolina coach Jamey Chadwell turned a corner after 'cringeworthy' meeting with players
FIVE YEARS AGO, about halfway through the 2017 season and stuck in the middle of what would turn out to be a nine-game losing streak, Coastal Carolina Chanticleers interim coach Jamey Chadwell called a team meeting. Standing in front of a group of players he knew didn't like him, he told the assistants to leave and shut the door. What needed to be said in this room, however loud and however ugly it might get, would stay between them.
Alright, Chadwell told the players, let me have it.
At first, there was only silence. But Chadwell waited. He'd felt the animosity bubbling up for a while: the disapproving looks, the off-hand remarks, the direct challenges to his authority in practice. «It wasn't hidden,» he said. He was like the substitute teacher nobody wanted. It was bad enough he'd only been there seven months. Assistant coach Bill Durkin said because Chadwell came from in-state rival Charleston Southern, players wondered, «How do we trust this guy?»
Trey Carter, a freshman guard, remembers how tense the meeting was. He said it was «cringeworthy» waiting for someone to speak up.
Chadwell wasn't the head coach they signed on to play for. He didn't look, sound or lead anything like Joe Moglia, who had to step away for health reasons. Moglia was an eccentric CEO type who prided himself on having no rules. Chadwell, on the other hand, was hard-nosed, hands-on and demanded accountability, which is fine when you're winning. But when you're not, well ...
«I know you want to say something,» Chadwell reiterated. «I know you don't like some of the things going on. Let me have it.»
So a few of the veterans finally did. Some of their criticism focused on coaching, but some of it was personal. And while Chadwell could live with