GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina University has announced a three-year extension of head baseball coach Cliff Godwin’s contract that will now secure his position through the 2022 season. The new agreement, approved by the University Board of Trustees and announced by ECU Director of Athletics Jeff Compher Friday, extends Godwin’s existing contract to June 25, 2022.
“In two short years Cliff Godwin has proven he was born to be ECU’s head baseball coach,” Compher said. “He has hired an outstanding staff, built a bond with his team, won a conference championship and then took this year’s team further in post-season play than any other Division I program in our history. He and his team accomplished all of this while also performing at an exceptionally high level in the classroom completing this academic year with the highest GPA of all the baseball programs in the American Athletic Conference. His team epitomizes the term student-athlete.
“I would also like to thank the Board of Trustees and the leadership at East Carolina who recognize what Cliff’s leadership means to the success of our baseball program. With this new contract and the support of our strong fan base, I know we all look forward to many more successful seasons for Pirate Baseball, on the field and in the classroom.”
During his two years at the helm of the program, Godwin has guided ECU to a pair of NCAA Regional berths, a Super Regional appearance, an American Athletic Conference Tournament title and a 78-44-1 (.638) overall record. Three players have earned All-America honors, five were named to the Charlottesville All-Regional Team, six took home all-conference honors (five first-teamers), seven were selected as AAC Player-of-the-Week, while a pair were drafted by Major League Baseball teams.
Off the field, his teams have excelled in the classroom by registering a 2.87 GPA or better all four semesters, including three semesters of 3.05 or higher with a program-best 3.42 in the fall of 2015. Thirty-seven (37) student-athletes have been named to the ECU Director of Athletics Honor Roll (27 garnering multiple selections), while 11 Pirates earned inclusion on the 2014-15 AAC All-Academic Team maintaining a minimum 3.00 GPA. His club recently received the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and The American Team Academic Excellence Awards after registering a collective 3.31 GPA for the 2015-16 academic year.
In the community, the Pirates have donated over 1,000 hours working with programs in the Pitt County area such as the Food Bank of Central and Eastern Carolina, Hope of Glory Good Samarian 5K, Wintergreen Intermediate School, North Carolina Packs for Patriots, First Born Community Development Center and the James and Connie Maynard Children’s Hospital.
“I’m extremely grateful to Jeff Compher, Chancellor Staton, former Chancellor Ballard and the East Carolina University Board of Trustees for allowing me to continue leading this program,” Godwin said. “It’s an honor to be the head baseball coach at ECU.
“I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished on and off the field over the past two seasons. Our players, staff and fans deserve all the credit. That said, we won’t be satisfied until we get Pirate Nation to Omaha. We continued working toward that goal as soon as this past season ended. Go Pirates!”
Godwin made an immediate impact in 2015 leading the Pirates to a 40-22 record, which included a second-place regular season finish (15-9) in The American. The 2015 American Coach-of-the-Year became the first skipper in program history to win 40 games in his initial season, guided ECU to a conference tournament title in its first year in the league and directed a return to NCAA post-season play – its first since 2012 – as the No. 2 seed in the Coral Gables Regional.
The Snow Hill, N.C. native followed with another NCAA Regional berth (No. 3 seed in Charlottesville) and a Super Regional appearance (Lubbock, Texas) in 2016. ECU, who posted a 38-23-1 record and finished second in The American (15-8-1), rolled through regional play picking up wins against No. 20 Bryant (9-1), No. 10 Virginia (8-6) and William & Mary (8-4) en route to claiming the Charlottesville crown – its fourth regional title. The Pirates continued their magical run, defeating No. 5 national seed Texas Tech, 8-6, in the opener of the Super Regional and came 90 feet away from making their first appearance in the Men’s College World Series.
