Clifford "Cliff" McKinley Godwin (born February 2, 1978) is an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

coach and former catcher, who is the current head baseball coach of the

East Carolina Pirates The East Carolina Pirates are the sport, athletic teams that represent East Carolina University (ECU), located in Greenville, North Carolina. All varsity-level sports teams participate at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA ...

. He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

at East Carolina from 1998 to 2001 for head coach Keith LeClair.

Early years

Godwin was raised in

Snow Hill, North Carolina Snow Hill is a town in Greene County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,481 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Greene County and is part of the Greenville Metropolitan Area. Snow Hill hosts numerous tennis tournament ...

. He attended Greene Central High School in Snow Hill.

Playing career

Godwin enrolled at

East Carolina University East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of universities in North Carolina by enrollment, fourth largest university in North Carolina and the only one in the state with s ...

to play for the Pirates. He red-shirted his freshman season. Over the next four years, he started 126 games as a catcher, and served three years as team co-captain. He batted .322 with 15

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s and RBIs as a senior and was named 1st team All-

Colonial 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' ...

. In addition to his playing career at East Carolina, Godwin also graduated

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

in 2000 with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in management information systems, and went on to earn his

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

from ECU in 2002. He was a two-time Academic All-American selection during his time as a player. After graduating, Godwin spent two years playing professionally with the

Gateway Grizzlies The Gateway Grizzlies are a professional baseball team based in Sauget, Illinois. The Grizzlies compete in the Frontier League (FL) as a member of the Midwest Division. The franchise was founded in 2001 and they play their home games at the 6, ...

and the

Evansville Otters The Evansville Otters are a professional baseball team based in Evansville, Indiana. They compete in the Frontier League (FL) as a member of the Midwest Division. Since their establishment in 1995, the Otters have played at historic Bosse Field ...

of the

Frontier League The Frontier League (FL; French: ''Ligue Frontière'', LF) is a professional baseball league in North America composed of 18 teams – 15 in the United States and 3 in Canada. The FL is one of the eight independent baseball leagues in North Ame ...

Coaching career

After his two years in the Frontier League, Godwin began his coaching career as an assistant at Kinston High School in

Kinston, North Carolina Kinston is a city in Lenoir County, North Carolina, United States, with a population of 19,900 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It has been the county seat of Lenoir County since its formation in 1791. Kinston is located in the ...

, 20 minutes from his hometown of Snow Hill. He spent one season at Kinston before moving on to his first position at the Division I level, with the

UNC Wilmington Seahawks The UNC Wilmington (UNCW) Seahawks are the varsity athletic teams representing the University of North Carolina Wilmington in Wilmington, North Carolina in intercollegiate athletics. The university sponsors eight teams for the men (baseball, bas ...

. He spent two seasons at UNC Wilmington before moving on to Vanderbilt. At Vanderbilt, he served as the Commodores' Director of Baseball Operations before joining

Paul Mainieri Paul Mainieri (born August 29, 1957) is an American college baseball coach and former second baseman. He is currently the head baseball coach for the South Carolina Gamecocks baseball, South Carolina Gamecocks. He played college baseball at LSU ...

's staff at Notre Dame for the 2005 season. After two seasons at Notre Dame, he followed Mainieri to

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

prior to the 2007 season. In 2008, Godwin's LSU offense hit .306 with 100 home runs and 95

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out ...

s. After two seasons with Mainieri at LSU, which included a trip to the

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is a baseball tournament held each June in Omaha, Nebraska. It is the culmination of the NCAA Division I baseball tournament—featuring 64 teams in the ...

in 2008, Godwin coached at UCF. With UCF, he helped with numerous highly ranked recruiting classes and helped lead the Knights to the NCAA tournament in 2011, their first appearance since 2004. Following his stint at UCF, Godwin moved on to

Ole Miss OLE, Ole or Olé may refer to: * Olé, a cheering expression used in Spain * Ole (name), a male given name, includes a list of people named Ole * Overhead lines equipment, used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains Co ...

, where he served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. In 2014, he helped lead the Rebels to their first College World Series appearance since 1972. On June 25, 2014, Godwin was hired as head coach at his alma mater, East Carolina University, replacing former Pirates head coach

Billy Godwin Billy Godwin (born November 19, 1964) is an American college baseball coach and former pitcher. He is the former head baseball coach at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Godwin played college baseball at Atlantic Christian College ...

. Godwin's first career game as a head coach came on February 13, 2015, a 3–1 loss to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. His first win came on February 21, 2015, against UNC Greensboro. On May 22, 2025, Godwin became the all-time winningest coach in East Carolina baseball history. Godwin's 428 wins surpassed the previous record of 427 set by Coach Gary Overton on May 16, 1997.

Head coaching record

The following is a table of Godwin's yearly records as an NCAA head baseball coach.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Godwin, Cliff Living people 1978 births Baseball coaches from North Carolina UNC Wilmington Seahawks baseball coaches Vanderbilt Commodores baseball coaches Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball coaches LSU Tigers baseball coaches UCF Knights baseball coaches Ole Miss Rebels baseball coaches East Carolina Pirates baseball coaches East Carolina Pirates baseball players People from Snow Hill, North Carolina Evansville Otters players Gateway Grizzlies players