The Associated Press | June 25, 2014 East Carolina hires Cliff Godwin as head baseball coach Share GREENVILLE, N.C. -- East Carolina has hired Cliff Godwin as baseball coach. Godwin spent the past three seasons as an assistant coach at Mississippi, helping Ole Miss return to the College World Series this year for the first time since 1972. Godwin was a four-year letterman for the Pirates and was part of teams that reached seven NCAA Regionals and two College World Series appearances as a college coach. Godwin played catcher at East Carolina from 1998-2001, helping ECU reach the NCAA Super Regionals as a No. 6 national seed in 2001. Godwin also had coaching stops at North Carolina-Wilmington, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, LSU and Central Florida. He replaces Billy Godwin, who was coach for nine years before the school did not renew his expiring contract. 2021 American Athletic softball preview: UCF, USF ready to battle for conference crown With two Florida teams, UCF and South Florida, expected to lead the American Athletic Conference (AAC), which teams could play spoiler? READ MORE 2021 American Athletic baseball preview: Tulane, others chasing East Carolina Few teams were as disappointed to see the 2020 campaign come to an end as the top of the American Athletic Conference early last season. UCF, East Carolina, Tulane and Wichita State to be exact. Now it's time to turn to 2021. READ MORE East Carolina, St. John's stun top-5 teams on a wild Wednesday night of college basketball East Carolina men's basketball beat a top-5 team for the first time ever and St. John's won at home against a top-3 team for the first time since 1966. Here's how both got it done. READ MORE