Coastal Carolina played its spring game for college football in front of 10s of fans. The crowd was practically nonexistent.
You can almost count the full attendance on two hands!
Now, to be fair, this kind of turnout is fairly standard for college football programs that are not in the Big 12, SEC, Big Ten or ACC. And even then, spring games are hit or miss. That doesn’t change the optics!
Coastal Carolina is no longer relevant.
The Chanticleers made the transition from FCS to FBS in 2017. They won only 13 games in their first three seasons.
And then Jamey Chadwell took over as the full-time head coach.
He led Coastal Carolina to back-to-back 11-win seasons in 2020 and 2021 and finished as high as No. 12 in the final CFP rankings. A program that was not on anyone’s radar before became a household name.
The Chants were known for their mullets. Grayson McCall was one of the most electric players in the country. The game against BYU and Zach Wilson during COVID really put them on the map.
Chadwell finished at 9-4 in 2022. And then he bounced for the same job at Liberty.
Tim Beck took over as head coach. Coastal Carolina saw a steady decline. It won eight games in 2023 before back-to-back seasons with only six wins in 2024 and 2025. He got fired in November.
A team that was all the rage just five years ago very quickly became an afterthought.
Nobody showed up to the college football spring game.
Coastal Carolina hired Ryan Beard as its new head football coach in December. He takes over the program after three seasons in the same role at Missouri State.
The Chanticleers began the spring practice period in early March. It concluded with the annual spring game on Friday night. Beard led his team onto the teal turf for the first time in front of… well, nobody.
First year Coastal Carolina Head Coach @Ry_Beard running out onto the teal turf for the first time! 👌🏻 pic.twitter.com/ZW0y9gUPlh
— Teagan Brown (@Teagannbrownn) March 27, 2026
Brooks Stadium holds a maximum capacity of 21,000. I would estimate a total attendance of maybe 500. Maybe. That number might be generous and I am not exaggerating.
The crowd only got smaller after the sun went down.
I know the spring game is tradition. I know this kind of attendance is fairly common for Group of Six programs.
However, unless Beard really sees value in something of a dress rehearsal, it seems to me like Coastal Carolina would be better off playing this game behind closed doors. It seems like a giant waste of time, energy and resources to play in front of such a small crowd.