A teal tie helped new AD Chance Miller win over Coastal Carolina. This is his plan for CCU

Chance Miller knew he needed a specific tie. After former AD Matt Hogue announced he was stepping down in April 2024, Miller applied to become Coastal Carolina’s next athletic director. Miller wanted to show the university he bought into the program and that he was CCU’s guy.

The Chants’ colors are teal and black, and given that everything from the merchandise to the football field was teal, Miller knew that was the color tie he needed.

“I knew I wanted to have it walking in because it’s such a powerful brand,” Miller said. “You walk around, and you see people with that teal, and the logo is really impressive. It sticks out.”

Miller knew what he wanted, but finding a teal tie was easier said than done. He couldn’t turn to his wardrobe for assistance, as much of the former University of South Carolina senior deputy athletics director’s attire combined the Gamecocks’ Garnet and black colors.

“After 11 years and being in one place, you accumulate a lot of polos and dress shirts that are all Garnet and black,” Miller added.

After taking a screenshot of the official shade of teal, he and his wife Lauren set out to find a teal tie at one of the many department stores in Columbia, S.C. It took a couple of hours and several different stores. Still, the Millers finally found a teal tie and pocket square he could wear when he visited Coastal and later at his introductory press conference as Coastal Carolina’s new athletic director. It only dawned on the new steward of Chanticleer athletics after he accepted the job how significant an impact his difficult-to-find tie made on the athletic department.

“I came down and accepted the job and started talking to the coaches and staff, and they all brought that up,” Miller said. “They were like, ‘We loved the tie and the pocket square, and you buying into the teal brand.’”

Now at the helm of Coastal, teal is ubiquitous with Miller. The Garnet and black polos were traded in for new teal ones, and he also wore one during the Zoom interview with The Sun News.

With that new wardrobe, Miller now enters a job with Coastal Carolina at a crossroads in its athletic history. Almost all head coaches who represented CCU athletics as little as two years ago have retired or moved on to different schools. Coastal is trying to stay competitive in its capstone sports of football, basketball, and baseball, but NIL and the transfer portal have worked together to take some of CCU’s biggest stars.

Meanwhile, CCU’s first forays into how students compensate themselves through utilizing their name, image, and likeness (NIL) have had mixed results. Initial NIL faced difficulty fundraising and garnering support, forcing them to shutter. NIL can no longer be ignored or put off. In some ways, Miller is well-suited to addressing CCU’s need to protect its rosters. According to his former boss at USC, Miller was ready for college athletics’ new frontier long before it arrived. He described Miller as an administrator with a keen eye for detail and logistics and a deep desire to win.

While some argue that Coastal faces some challenges, Miller says that CCU’s potential is unlimited. While it doesn’t officially start until mid-July 2024, he sees a path forward.

Why Miller sees Coastal’s potential as unlimited

During the interview, Miller returned to the same phrase frequently.

“I want to win,” he said.

It’s a competitiveness Miller shared with his former boss and five-time national champion as a coach and athletic director who worked together for more than a decade. USC Athletic Director Ray Tanner described Miller as an administrator with a keen eye for logistics and putting people in the best position to win.

“I’ve met a lot of administrators that are really good at what they do. Winning was important, but it wasn’t something they were all that passionate about,” Tanner said. “Chance Miller likes to win, and it doesn’t matter what sport it is. He’s going to want to win.”

The pair talked about the Coastal position once it became available, and both agreed about CCU’s athletic potential. Miller said CCU’s trajectory could be similar to that of the University of Central Florida, which parlayed several successful football seasons into the Big 12.

UCF has one of the largest student bodies in the country , more than five times the size of Coastal. However, Miller said that CCU’s continued success on the field could continue to grow the university’s enrollment, which will, in turn, increase the alumni, donor pool, and new sources of revenue.

“I think if we can find ways to generate more revenue and keep reaching out and growing that fan base. There are a lot of really great possibilities,” Miller said. “It’s my job to grow those resources, put the people around that can make us really successful, sustain that success and keep growing it, and put us in a spot where, when those changes occur, we’re one of the top ones at the forefront that people want to be a part of.”

Tanner added that revenue generation is one of Miller’s strengths as an administrator, saying that it’s always at the forefront of Miller’s mind.

However, that unlimited potential could still face challenges CCU has worked to counteract in recent years. One of the biggest is one Miller isn’t only familiar with, but he predicted its arrival while at USC and helped establish the Gamecocks’ infrastructure. That challenge is NIL.

Chance Miller sees NIL as integral to CCU’s future. He helped create USC’s NIL foundation

A lawyer by trade who previously worked for the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions from 2009-13, Miller said he knew the transfer portal and NIL were coming to college athletics years before they finally arrived. Once at USC, Miller led Gamecock’s efforts to prepare for the eventuality of NIL. Tanner said his former colleague helped USC adjust as the rules changed and was a liaison between the school and its Garnet Trust NIL Collective.

“I give credit to Chance for making sure that we were prepared and ready and out front,” Tanner said.

Miller said adapting to the ever-changing environment proved critical to maintaining USC’s NIL operations. His efforts included bringing in a marketing firm for student-athletes and the sports consulting group Altius Sports Partners, with whom Coastal also signed a deal , to expand Gamecocks’ efforts further.

Miller said garnering NIL for CCU is more than just signing individual sponsorship deals. It also means not exhausting donor resources by asking them to commit them to multiple efforts simultaneously. He added that CCU needs to open new sources of revenue to help Coastal’s sports remain competitive, such as fan experience efforts and partnering with local businesses. Most of all, Miller said CCU must gain access to the Myrtle Beach area’s tourism economy to generate revenue and NIL money.

“We’ve got to find a way to tap into that to be able to help our student-athletes.,” Miller said. “That’s going to be one of my priorities walking in the door.”

While Miller is optimistic about Coastal’s NIL potential, the circumstances are much different in Conway than in Columbia. Coastal is a much younger university with fewer graduates than some of its contemporaries in the state and Sun Belt Conference— a key element of NIL’s success, according to some experts. While the Myrtle Beach area is growing tremendously, those newcomers aren’t necessarily becoming Coastal fans, as many still maintain allegiance to other universities. Indeed, Miller previously raised funds for USC in the Grand Strand area.

While CCU cannot compete with bigger schools with more students, athletic budgets, and alumni, the Chants can use NIL as a defensive tool to help entice CCU’s best to stay in Conway.

Current efforts to bolster CCU’s NIL efforts include the Coastal Sports Collective , established in March 2024 as one of CCU’s two NIL collectives. The collective’s goal is to create a significant pool of money that teams can draw upon to bring players into the program or keep them.

By ensuring the Chants continue to win now with NIL support when needed, the Coastal Sports Collective hopes to generate future NIL donations as CCU’s alumni base grows as the university grows. Jimmy Feuger is the executive director of the collective. In a March 2024 interview, He said Coastal needs to present compelling NIL offers to players for them to stay.

“We want to be able to put our coaches in a situation where they have a support system that can help them win games and be competitive,” Feuger said in March 2024. “If we don’t keep the level playing field, it will affect our wins and losses.”

Staying competitive is part of Miller’s primary focus as CCU’s new AD, as roster retention is his primary goal with NIL.

“It’s not always just about the money. (Athletes) want to make sure that it’s a great culture that they’re coming into,” Miller said. “I’ve watched student-athletes that have agreed to take less money to stay in a really good position, and I think that’s what we need to develop at Coastal so that our coaches are not having to constantly go in and redo their rosters every year, that they’re able to help the student-athletes feel like I’m able to get something here.”

He’ll be helped by South Carolina’s new NIL legislation, which some experts say allows universities to get more involved in the NIL process in the Palmetto State than most other laws nationwide. Miller added that the new legislation will give Coastal and other South Carolina universities an edge over other programs despite the ever-changing rules and regulations governing NIL.

Will Miller stay in Conway long-term?

While Miller’s commitment to Coastal was strong in his introductory press conference and interview, the question becomes whether he will stay or return to Columbia once Tanner retires. Tanner, age 66, signed an extension in 2023 that goes through 2026, one year before Miller’s deal with Coastal expires in 2027.

Considering Miller’s significant role at USC during his 11-year tenure, he would be a prime candidate to replace Tanner once the former baseball coach retired, especially given their closeness. However, both dispelled the idea that Miller was Tanner’s heir apparent. Miller said he was invested in CCU as an institution and disinterested in repeatedly uprooting and moving his family across the country despite Columbia and Conway being about two and a half hours apart .

“I want to go somewhere where I can make a difference, not only in the job I’m at but in the community I’m at,” Miller added. “That’s why I spend a lot of time here, and that’s my plan at Coastal.”

Tanner added he has no plans to step down anytime soon and said that he believed the Coastal job served as a long-term opportunity for Miller. He also said that while USC wanted to keep Miller, Tanner believed CCU was perfect for his protege.

“There’s going to be opportunities. He’s good at what he does. So there’ll be other opportunities, potentially, that will come his way,” Tanner said. “Coastal is a special place to be ... I would try to hang there as long as I can.”

That place includes a spot in the Sun Belt Conference, which Miller said is one of the toughest conferences that Power Four conference teams want to avoid. In some ways, the Sun Belt provides the easiest barometers to gauge Miller’s success.

If CCU beats James Madison and the Appalachian States year in and year out during Miller’s tenure, it’ll be the most visible sign that his vision for Coastal is working.