Cliff Godwin, who has been a part of 13 NCAA Regional and two College World Series appearances coaching at the Division I level, completed his ninth year as head baseball coach at East Carolina University in 2023.
A four-year letterman for the Pirates, Godwin was appointed as ECU’s 16th skipper in the school’s history on June 25, 2014, after completing a three-year stay at the University of Mississippi.
During his nine years at the helm of the program, Godwin, a four-time American Athletic Conference Coach-of-the-Year honoree, has guided ECU to seven NCAA Regional berths (2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022 Greenville Regional host), four Super Regional appearances (2022 Greenville Super Regional host), four American Athletic Conference regular season and three AAC Tournament crowns while posting a 351-170-1 (.673) overall record. Under his direction, 13 players have earned All-America status while 18 have been named to NCAA All-Regional Teams. Additionally, 40 student-athletes have garnered all-conference status (25 first-team selections) and 22 players have been drafted by Major League Baseball teams.
Under Godwin, a two-time Academic All-America selection as a player at ECU, the Pirates have had upwards of 400 student-athletes earn a spot on the East Carolina Director of Athletics Honor Roll (3.0 GPA or higher) while over 150 players have earned AAC All-Academic Team honors – including 35 of 38 members of the 2023 club.
ECU has also earned eight-straight AAC and seven consecutive American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Team Academic Excellence Awards, boasting the highest team GPA of all baseball programs in The American every year since the 2015-16. Five players have earned CoSIDA Academic All-America honors since 2016 (Travis Watkins/2016 first team, Charlie Yorgen/2016 third team, Jake Agnos/2019 first team, Alec Burleson/2019 third team and 2020 first team and Matt Bridges/2021 third team). Burleson became the third player in program history to be named a two-time Academic All-America selection joining Godwin and Sam Narron.
ECU also had a student-athlete presented with the Male Scholar-Athlete-of-the-Year Award by the American Athletic Conference in consecutive years. Agnos was the first student-athlete in school history to win the award in 2019, followed by Burleson in 2020.
In the community, the Pirates have volunteered over 6,000 hours working with programs in the Pitt County area such as the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, Team IMPACT, Riley’s Army, Cypress Glenn Retirement Community Flood Relief, Hurricane Relief, Red Cross, First Born Community Development Center, ACES for Autism, Make-A-Wish Foundation and the James and Connie Maynard Children’s Hospital.
On July 14, 2022 Godwin agreed to a contract extension securing his position through the 2029 season.
Prior to coming to ECU, Godwin spent time as an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator at Ole Miss (2011-14), associate head coach/recruiting coordinator at UCF (2009-11), assistant coach at LSU (2006-08), Notre Dame (2005-06) director of operations at Vanderbilt (2004-05) and volunteer assistant coach at UNCW (2003-04).
A five-year member of the baseball program at ECU, Godwin redshirted as a freshman before serving as a top catcher for the Pirates over the next four seasons. The three-year team co-captain started 126 games as a sophomore, junior and senior, earning All-East Region honors from the American Baseball Coaches Association in his final season after batting .322 with 15 home runs and 45 RBI. The left-handed swinging Godwin also was a First-Team All-Colonial Athletic Association selection in 2001 after also delivering 14 doubles and drawing 23 walks in 57 games.
In addition to his on-the-field accomplishments, Godwin excelled in the classroom at ECU as a two-time Academic All-America selection – one of four Pirates to ever earn the distinguished honor. After being named to third-team status in 1999, he followed up with second-team accolades as a senior in 2001.
Godwin graduated magna cum laude from ECU in 2000 with a Bachelor of Science degree in management information systems, and after receiving the Pat Draughon Postgraduate Scholarship, went on to earn his MBA from ECU in 2002.
He helped former ECU skipper Keith LeClair’s teams win nearly 100 games more than they lost during his four seasons (169-76), including 46-plus wins in each of his final three years (46-16 in ’99, 46-18 in ’00 and 47-13 in ’01). His career totals with the Pirates included 24 home runs, 31 doubles and 95 RBI.
ECU won a pair of CAA Tournament titles and advanced to the NCAA Regionals every season from 1999 to 2001. The Pirates were the top seed in their regional all three years, including a No. 6 national seed in 2001 where they advanced to the Super Regional round before being eliminated by Tennessee. Godwin was named to the all-tournament team at the 2001 NCAA regional, hosted by ECU in Wilson.
After finishing his collegiate career, Godwin spent two seasons playing professionally with the Gateway Grizzlies in the Frontier League before getting back into the coaching ranks as an assistant coach at Kinston High School in 2003.
In all, Godwin has worked with 68 players who have gone on to the professional ranks during his time as a coach at the Division I level.
Godwin is the son of Kathy Dail and Lewis Godwin of Snow Hill.
Leave a Reply