Another football season comes where the College of Charleston doesn’t have a team that we can love and support. While it is highly unlikely that the Cougars would ever field a football team, we have seen countless schools of the same size have success on some of the lower levels of college football. The first issue we face is the logistics, like location and what conference they would be playing in.
CONCERNS
A big section of concern/skepticism is people who may think that Charleston isn’t a big enough school to field a football team, while this might be true for having a D1 FBS program(the level of South Carolina and Clemson). It has plenty of students for a D1 FCS team which is the same level as the Citadel and Charleston Southern. Charleston definitely has the student body to have a successful football team. Also, to combat a small school size, Charleston would have a great recruiting profile. The city has many monetarily blessed individuals and CofC alumni that I’m sure would be able to help out in the NIL space. The Charleston basketball team has had success in the NIL space working with the Pepper Law Firm, the law firm run by Mark Pepper, who helped start the Charleston Edge Collective; an organization that helps boost Charleston’s NIL funds. With the potential for this NIL to come to the Football team, I think it could benefit them as much if not more than the basketball team.
Stadium
The first thing to think about is what stadium would they play at, with Charleston being located in the heart of downtown, the obvious first thought would be for them to share a stadium with the Citadel or Charleston Southern. However, that wouldn’t be as interesting so we need to also think about stadiums that don’t currently have any college football teams playing at them.
1. The first option that comes to mind would be our own D-4 Stadium with an estimated 6,000 capacity. It would definitely be a small option but D-4 has multiple options for some added capacity. For example there are no seating options behind either endzone which could definitely be added, and also the away stand could be added too so that it’s a similar size to the main home stand.
2.Option number 2 that is my personal favorite, and most likely is Stoney Field, the current home of Burke High School, and right next to The College of Charleston’s Biggest Rival the Citadel. This could allow for some great rivalry atmospheres when the two play each other, as the two stadiums are only 0.1 miles away. While Stoney field does have a smaller capacity, there is once again many options for increased capacity. The last plus is the walkability for CofC students as it is only a 15-20ish minute walk from the heart of the CofC campus, instead of at D-4 where fans would have to drive for distances. If Charleston were to field a team, I think Stoney field would be the most realistic option.
THE MAIN ISSUE
While the close proximity of Charleston and Citadels stadium would be great for rivalry week, it could create a very large issue if CofC and the Citadel both had home games on the same week. Two home games that are 0.1 miles away would cause parking and tailgating to be nearly impossible so making the schedules so one team is home and one away is necessary. This is definitely possible to achieve as it’s relatively easy to work around, it would just require the two colleges working together. With the rivalries between CofC and the Citadel being mainly based on student’s feelings, it should be possible for the leaders of these schools to work together, especially if they are in the same conference.
What Conference Would They Be In
Potentially the most difficult part of this whole process, is deciding which FCS conference that the College of Charleston would play. When looking at potential options, three main contenders stand out. First, The Colonial Athletic Association or CAA, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference or MEAC, and the Southern Conference, better known as the SoCon. All these options are great, and realistically I could see them all being College of Charleston’s football conference. Let’s go through the three potential options.
1.the CAA, this one fits because a majority of the other Charleston teams play here, like the basketball team. The only main issue is that no other colleges in the state of South Carolina have football teams that play in this conference, making travel to away games very difficult.
2.the MEAC, this would be an interesting conference as SC State plays here and could be an interesting rival, also a pretty large place is the farthest the Cougars would have to travel for a conference game is Delaware, which even though its not very close, it isn’t too far.
3.Lastly, and probably the most likely is the SoCon, with teams from South Carolina being The Citadel, Furman, and Wofford and Charleston used to be in the conference for multiple sports like Basketball. This is by far the best option for multiple reasons, these being potential rivalries, competitive games, and travel being very easy.
If CofC were to field a team I would have to pick the SoCon as the best option for close proximity and competitive games. Even though all three options are definitely possible, I think the Cougars should push to become a member of the SoCon conference.
Hypothetical Schedule
Week 1 – vs. South Carolina State (Non-Conference, FCS)
Week 2 – at Furman (SoCon)
Week 3 – vs. Wofford (SoCon)
Week 4 – at Mercer (SoCon)
Week 5 – at Chattanooga (SoCon)
Week 6 – vs. The Citadel (SoCon)
Week 7 – vs. East Tennessee State (SoCon)
Week 8 – at VMI (SoCon)
Week 9 – vs. Western Carolina (SoCon)
Week 10 – at South Carolina (Non-Conference, FBS)
Week 11 – vs. Samford (SoCon)
Week 12 – at Charleston Southern (Non-Conference, FCS)
Overall, it would be great if the Cougars would finally start a football program, for the citizens and alumni of Charleston to root for. There are so many colleges of similar sizes, and even smaller ones that have had success on the football field, so it would be crazy to think that the Cougars couldn’t have success. Having another team in Charleston would be great, for many reasons and I think that the College should definitely consider it.
