Meet East Carolina baseball coach Cliff Godwin
GREENVILLE, N.C. — Before proudly wearing purple and gold as the East Carolina baseball head coach, Cliff Godwin proudly wore the Pirate jersey as an 鈥渙utstanding catcher鈥� for four seasons.
Godwin and the 1999-2001 team won three consecutive CAA Tournament titles, were the No. 1 regional seed all three years and ranked No. 7 in the national seed in 2001. After graduating magna cum laude and receiving his master鈥檚 from East Carolina in 2002, Godwin played professionally with the Gateway Grizzlies in the Frontier League for two seasons.
In 2003, Godwin began his coaching career as the assistant coach at Kinston High School. The Snow Hill native explains, 鈥淢y dad was a high school basketball coach at Greene Central High School and I would go to practice with him as a youngster. I wanted to help mold young men in a positive way like many of the coaches I had throughout high school and college.鈥�
Godwin became the 鈥�16th skipper鈥� for the East Carolina baseball program in June 2014, recently securing his position as head coach with a contract extension through the 2029 season.
In the past eight seasons under the experienced coach, the ECU baseball team has been guided to six NCAA Regional Championships, four Super Regional appearances, three American Athletic Conference Regular season and three AAC Tournament crowns.
Coach Godwin explains, 鈥淓ach year is always a different team. This year鈥檚 team has great leadership and has shown up with a ton of intent and energy.鈥�
Lane Hoover is a Pirate who demonstrates this leadership, by playing in all 67 games last season with 55 runs scored, 15 doubles, two triples and 35 RBI. The senior ECU outfielder also had the eighth 鈥渕ost at bats鈥� in a single season in the program鈥檚 history last year.
Representing the relentless ECU energy level, Garret Saylor led the league in strikeouts and appearance during the 2022 season, with 108 strikeouts in 79 innings. The senior is one of only two ACC pitchers to allow no triples during last year鈥檚 entire season.
鈥淟ane Hoover and Garrett Saylor are two of the most selfless guys I have ever coached. They bleed purple and gold and they always want what is best for our program.鈥�
As a two-time Academic All-America selection, Coach Godwin also values and encourages 鈥渙ff-the-field accomplishments鈥� to the athletes. With the head coach鈥檚 guidance, 350 players have been members of the East Carolina Director of Athletics Honor Roll and nearly 150 athletes have earned AAC All-Academic Team honors.
The Pirates can also be found lending a hand throughout the community, volunteering more than 6000 hours in Eastern NC. The team assists several local non-profit organizations including The American Red Cross, Riley鈥檚 Army, ACES for Autism, Make-A-Wish Foundation and First Born Community Development Center.
Throughout the years Coach Godwin has worked with sixty-four players who have gone to professional ranks, yet he holds coaching at East Carolina University closest to his heart. 鈥淚t is an honor for me to be able to lead our baseball program since ECU is my alma mater. Very few people have the opportunity to coach at the program in which they played.鈥�
Let鈥檚 cheer on the East Carolina baseball team this season and continue to show our Pirate pride! Head Coach Cliff Godwin says, 鈥淣othing is better than hosting regionals and super regionals in front of the best fans in the country shouting 鈥楶urple鈥old!鈥�
CLIFF GODWIN EXPERIENCE
2014-present: East Carolina University, Head Coach
2011-2014: University of Mississippi, Assistant Coach
2009-2011: University of Central Florida, Associate Head Coach
2008-2006: Louisiana State University, Assistant Coach
2006-2005: University of Notre Dame, Assistant Coach
2005-2004: Vanderbilt University, Director of Operations
2004-2003: University of North Carolina Wilmington, Volunteer Assistant Coach
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