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The East Carolina baseball team has struggled a bit in 2025 after making an appearance in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The Pirates were considered one of the nation’s top 16 teams last year, giving them the opportunity to secure a national seed in the postseason.
That appears to be a longshot in the current campaign. The team is just 20-14 and riding a four-game losing streak. This past weekend, ECU was swept in conference play for the first time since 2018.
The Pirates dropped three consecutive games to Florida Atlantic. Head coach Cliff Godwin was frustrated with the way the series played out.
“We played to lose… Players looked tired. It’s my job to get them tougher… I told our players, ‘If you don’t believe, don’t show up tomorrow.'”
-Cliff Godwin
Godwin pledged to give a pep talk to his team after the sweep. Unfortunately, not much changed in the days to follow.
East Carolina was beaten in midweek action by rival NC State. Again, Godwin was upset. He took things a step further in his criticism of players, suggesting that their motivations are in the wrong place.
Cliff Godwin doesn’t believe his baseball team is loyal to East Carolina.
Instead, he implied that they’re more interested in seeking the next opportunity – and landing the next NIL paycheck.
It’s an issue that Godwin has touched on before. Last year, the Pirates fell in postseason play as a one-seed at home. Their head coach quickly called out a pair of pitchers that entered the portal days later.
“Why should we have won? We threw two pitchers on Monday that both knew they were leaving, and I didn’t know they were leaving. I would’ve thrown position players. The guy that started and the guy that gave up the three-run homer went to the portal on Wednesday (2 days after the season ended). They knew they were leaving… We would’ve pitched somebody different.”
-Cliff Godwin
Godwin suggested that the outcome of the season didn’t matter to those players. They’d already accepted deals to move onto new schools. There was no motivation to win.
He continued on his evisceration of NIL and the transfer portal in the offseason. His thoughts on the topic clearly haven’t changed.
East Carolina baseball was hit hard by the transfer portal last year. Cliff Godwin’s most recent comments insist it could happen again this offseason.
The coach doesn’t believe his players are playing for the name on the front of the jersey, only for the one on the back. NIL is the cause. Players are not loyal to the school or their head coach. He’ll hope to change the thinking and spark a midseason turnaround.