ECU BASEBALL coach Cliff Godwin job on the line after multiple players publicly criticise his coaching style

Cliff Godwin salary: How much does the ECU baseball coach make? Contract details, pay structure and more

There are certainly some outside the East Carolina baseball program – including select Pirate fans themselves – questioning whether or not the Pirates will be any good next season.

And that is perfectly fine with Cliff Godwin.

“I love when people doubt me,” Godwin said. “I’m better. I sent a message to our team, ‘Keep letting people doubt us, dude. I can’t wait.’ It’s exciting for me. It’s almost like my first year here.”

Godwin and his staff have proven they can replace big names and notable production from players either graduating, getting drafted, or – like in recent offseasons – leaving via the transfer portal. The Pirates lost a few notable players in recent weeks, including sophomore weekend starter Zach Root, as well as Freshman All-American outfielder Bristol Carter. Carter has since committed to Auburn. Root is being recruited by several prominent programs.

In addition, the Pirates lost stalwarts such as Jacob Starling, Carter Cunningham, Danny Beal and Justin Wilcoxen to graduation. Ace Trey Yesavage will be selected in the first round in next month’s MLB Draft. Starting outfielder Jacob Jenkins-Cowart and C/DH Ryan McCrystal are likely to turn pro, and All-American reliever Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman could as well.

But in the end, Godwin trusts his assistant coaches, and his culture, even if he’s had to do some adapting along the way with the transfer portal and NIL. ECU has made eight regionals in the nine full seasons Godwin has coached, won five straight regular season AAC championships, and has hosted regionals five of the last six seasons.

“If you want to become great, you come here,” Godwin said. “Trey Yesavage is going to sign for millions of dollars. If he went into the portal, he could have got an immediate payday. I don’t know, $200,000 to $400,000. But how about if he went and pitched somewhere else and his ERA was 4.00 or 5.00? Well, now you lose millions. So is it smart to go run for the money right now when you could be a first rounder? Probably not the most educated decision, but some of them make that decision.”

Coming off a 46-17 season, Godwin lamented the decision to throw Corey Costello and Root – two pitchers who entered the portal two days after the season ended – in the Greenville Regional championship game, which ended up being a season-ending 6-5 loss to Evansville. He shared a story of returning players Ethan Norby and Dixon Williams, and their vow to help carry next season’s team, as further belief in the ECU baseball way.

“It’s tough for me to say it out loud, but I wouldn’t have pitched either one of them,” Godwin said. “I’d have thrown position players. I don’t mean that disrespectful for anybody, but ECU baseball wasn’t built on individuals.

“Really, it was karma taking over that, we’ve got guys out there that are not bought into what we are doing here. Look, I don’t dislike those guys. That’s fine. They’re not ECU baseball players because ECU baseball players believe in something bigger than themselves. That’s fine, and they moved on. But at the end of the day, man, there’s a core group of guys coming back, like specifically Ethan Norby and Dixon Williams. Stuff that fires me up that makes me as motivated as the day I took the job is Dixon Williams told me in his exit meeting that Ethan Norby walked up to him in the outfield on Monday when everybody’s crying and said, ‘Hey, it’s our time. We’re not doing this anymore. We’re not losing again.’ … That’s how I know we’re going to continue to be successful because we’ve got guys like that in the locker room.”