Charleston Cougars
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The Charleston Cougars are the varsity intercollegiate athletic teams representing the
College of Charleston The College of Charleston (CofC or Charleston) is a public university in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1770 and chartered in 1785, it is the oldest university in South Carolina, the 13th-oldest institution of higher lea ...
in
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...
. The Cougars compete in
NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...
and are currently members of the
Coastal Athletic Association The Coastal Athletic Association (CAA), formerly the ECAC South Conference and the Colonial Athletic Association, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA' ...
. The university sponsors 20 varsity sports teams including men and women's basketball, cross country, golf, soccer and tennis; women's-only dance team, equestrian, beach volleyball, softball, track and field and volleyball; men's-only baseball; and co-ed sailing and cheerleading. The university's most successful sports are co-ed sailing, which has won 14 national championships since 1986, women's volleyball, which has qualified for the NCAA Tournament seven times since 2002 and men's baseball, which has qualified for the NCAA Tournament seven times since 2004.


Sponsored sports

The College of Charleston sponsors teams in six men's and eleven women's
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
sanctioned sports: In addition to this, Charleston considers the women on its cheerleading squad and its all-female dance team to be full varsity athletes.


Notables

Equestrian: The equestrian team was the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association Zone 5 champion from 2005 to 2010. They were national championship runners-up in 2013, their highest finish ever. Football: In 1897, the college fielded its first athletics team, a football squad. A football team played for the college until 1923, when it was disbanded for lack of support. Tennis: Charleston women's tennis has qualified for the NCAA Tournament six times, most recently five-straight years from 2009 to 2013, under the leadership of director of tennis and head coach Angelo Anastopoulo. Formerly both the men's and women's coach, Anastopoulo is a seven-time conference coach of the year for women's tennis, including the 2015 CAA honor. The men's team won the SoCon title in 2012 and the CAA title in 2016, accounting for the program's two NCAA Tournament appearances. Swimming and diving: The men's swimming and diving team were Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association champions in 2008, 2009, and 2012. Both the men's and women's swimming and diving teams were disbanded at the conclusion of the 2014–2015 school year.


Basketball

The men's basketball team won the NAIA national title in 1983 and made four trips to the NCAA Tournament (1994, 1997, 1998 and 1999) under the leadership of former head coach John Kresse. In 2006, the college welcomed Bobby Cremins, who led Georgia Tech to the Final Four, as its new head basketball coach. Cremins won the 2011 SoCon Coach of the Year and led the Cougars to the NIT. The Cougars returned to the NCAA Tournament in 2018 under Earl Grant, and in back-to-back years under Pat Kelsey, 2023 and 2024. Former Xavier and Louisville head coach Chris Mack currently leads the team. The women's team began play in 1974. They have made the Women's Basketball Invitational in 2010, 2013, and 2014


Baseball

The College of Charleston baseball team was the 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2012 SoCon regular season champion. In 2006, the Cougars won the regular season championship and the postseason tournament before advancing to their first-ever NCAA Super Regional. In their first year in the CAA, Charleston won the 2014 CAA Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Super Regional. The Cougars have been to seven NCAA Regionals- all since 2004- and have had 61 players sign professional contracts, including
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...
starting left fielder Brett Gardner. The team is currently coached by Chad Holbrook, who was previously the head coach at University of South Carolina. Oliver Marmol, the new manager of the
St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...
, once played for the Cougars.


Sailing

The College of Charleston sailing team is generally considered one of the top programs in the nation, as the team is consistently ranked among Sailing World Magazine's top-20 collegiate teams year in and year out. They compete in the South Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association (SAISA) of the Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA).


Golf

The Charleston men's golf team won the SoCon Championship in 2002 and four consecutive CAA Championships in their first four years (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017) in the conference. The men's team has qualified for the NCAA Tournament seven times, including five straight seasons from 2013 to 2017. In 2001, the Cougars advanced to the NCAA National Championships by placing fourth at the Oklahoma State-hosted NCAA Central Regional, which remains their highest finish in program history. Charleston is currently coached by Mark McEntire, a former University of Texas golfer, who won the 2014 & 2016 CAA Coach of the Year awards. The Charleston women's golf team has won three conference championships as well, 2006 in the SoCon and 2014 & 2015 in the CAA. The Cougars have made six NCAA Tournament appearances, most recently in 2015. The women's team holds the distinction of being the first women's team at Charleston to earn an NCAA Tournament at-large bid (2007). CofC is coached by Jamie Futrell, who has been with Charleston for 20 years and won three conference coach of the year awards (2001, 2014, 2015). Both teams play their home tournaments at the Links at Stono Ferry in Hollywood, S.C.


Volleyball

The College of Charleston women's volleyball team was established in 1974 and has become one of the school's most successful sports teams. The Cougars were Southern Conference champions from 2001 to 2012 and made NCAA appearances in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2013. Charleston advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2005 and 2012. They were the 2013 CAA Tournament champions in their first season in the conference and won the 2014 CAA regular season title. The Cougars' volleyball team had won 14 consecutive regular season or postseason conference titles between 2001 and 2014, which was the longest streak in Division I women's volleyball until the streak was snapped with a loss the 2015 CAA Tournament Championship. Charleston is currently coached by Jason Kepner, a former Penn State player and assistant coach at University of Pittsburgh, who won the 2008 SoCon Coach of the Year and 2013 CAA Coach of the Year. In 2012, Charleston was one of 15 teams in the nation to establish a beach volleyball team. The Cougars have been successful in the beach volleyball arena, qualifying for the first AVCA National Championship in 2012, finishing fourth. Charleston also qualified a duo for the 2015 AVCA National Championship in 2015, finishing fourth. In the 2016 season, with the NCAA sponsoring an official national championship for the first time, the Cougars competed as an independent. For the 2017 season, Charleston beach volleyball became a member of the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association. For the 2021 season, they became a member of the
ASUN Conference The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. ...
, and moved from there to the
Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that has been affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football confe ...
for the 2023 season.


National championships


Team


References


External links

* {{Navboxes , titlestyle = {{CollegePrimaryStyle, College of Charleston Cougars, color=white , list = {{Coastal Athletic Association navbox {{Sun Belt Conference navbox {{College sports in South Carolina, state=collapsed {{South Carolina Sports 1897 establishments in South Carolina