Flames are always up for Coastal contest

The “Beat JMU” t-shirt that Danny Rocco wore in the week leading up to Liberty’s game with James Madison late last month received plenty of pub in the greater Harrisonburg area.

Rest assured, though, JMU wasn’t the first school to be featured on a shirt at a Liberty practice. That distinction goes to Coastal Carolina. Rocco began motivating his team with fabric some three years ago, wearing a bright red “Beat Coastal” shirt to practice. It was a sign of respect, a nod to the top team in the Big South Conference. The shirts became a local phenomenon, and they began appearing everywhere on Liberty’s campus.

“Beat Coastal” was plastered on the video board heading into campus. Students wore “Beat Coastal” shirts to any sporting event involving the Flames and Chanticleers. Baseball, basketball, soccer — you name it.

When Rocco arrived, his rhetoric was simple. “Beat Coastal” was a mindset, one that came about because the Chanticleers were on top. They had won three straight Big South championships and presented the biggest roadblock to Liberty becoming the league’s premier program.

“They were the level that we were trying to get to, in terms of the model of what the best team in this league looked like,” Rocco said.

Coastal Carolina (3-2, 1-0)
at Liberty (3-2, 0-0)
When: Saturday, 3:30 p.m.
Where: Williams Stadium
TV: FTN, MASN

 

On Oct. 28, 2006, Coastal Carolina nipped Liberty 28-26 in Conway, S.C., and the Flames haven’t lost a Big South game since. With the changing of the guard complete, the rhetoric has flip-flopped. Now it’s Coastal Carolina coach David Bennett who goes out of his way to compliment Liberty in interviews.

“They’re the kings,” Bennett said Monday. “We’re just the paupers. We’re trying to catch up to them.”

The Flames and Chanticleers will meet Saturday at Williams Stadium, and the “Beat Coastal” campaign is back in full effect. Rocco won’t let his players forget about the rivalry, even if the Flames have had the upper hand in recent years. Coastal will come to Lynchburg on Saturday with the same sort of mindset that Liberty had in Rocco’s first two seasons. There’s no winning the Big South without beating Liberty, and Bennett will surely have his players well-versed in that ideology.

“No matter what their record is, they always play us tight,” Flames quarterback/receiver Mike Brown said. “We pretty much get everybody’s best game.”

The back-and-forth between the two coaches is a sign of mutual respect, one that began forming when Rocco was still an assistant coach at Virginia. Bennett brought his staff to Charlottesville to study the Cavaliers’ 3-4 defense, which is not unusual in college football. Rocco happened to be the point man on the Virginia staff for the Coastal visit, and he and Bennett began to form a relationship.

“I think there’s an appreciation and an admiration for each other’s programs and their styles of play,” Rocco said. “I like David. I think he’s a good coach. I think he’s passionate.”

In terms of financial resources, Liberty and Coastal are by far the top two programs in the league, the only two schools in the conference with athletics budgets of more than $15 million. So it’s not a rivalry generated on regional hatred as much as it is one based on mutual respect and a drive to compete with each other.

“They have taken a place that had a lot of potential, and they’ve reached that potential,” Bennett said of Rocco and Liberty athletics director Jeff Barber. “They’re setting the standard for our conference.”