Kevin Schnall remains confident about his team: 'This team deserves to be back.'

For the second time in program history, the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers are headed back to Omaha. The 2025 Men’s College World Series will mark the second appearance in program history for Coastal Carolina, with its first coming in 2016. That season, the Chanticleers held off Arizona 4-3 in the CWS Championship to win their first-ever National Championship.

Coastal Carolina head coach Kevin Schnall, who was associate head coach on that team, opened up about that run during his opening comments at Thursday’s Men’s College World Series Media Day Press Conference.

“June 30, 2016, was one of the most remarkable days of my baseball career and ultimately it transpired right here,” Schnall said. “That was the day we dog-piled after winning a National Championship. As you can imagine, that moment, that day, that team changed Coastal baseball together. Quite frankly, it changed my life and my family’s life forever.”

Schnall, who played at Coastal Carolina from 1995-1999, was an assistant on the team from 2001-2012 before taking an assistant coach job at UCF from 2013-2015. He then returned to the program in 2016 as associate head coach in a role he held until this season, when he was named head coach.

“This team deserves to be back,” Schnall said.

“It’s an honor to be back,” Schnall continued. “This team deserves to be back. We’re 53-11. We’ve won 23 straight games in a row. We’re one of eight teams in the entire country still playing and this team again deserves that opportunity. They’ve played so relentless and so consistent all year. As a coach, as a first-year head coach, couldn’t be more proud.”

Heading into the NCAA Tournament riding an 18-game winning streak, Coastal tore through the Conway Regional before upsetting Auburn in two games in the Auburn Super Regional. The Chanticleers are the hottest team in the country and are a program that no one wants to see on their side of the bracket. Over the course of its 23-game winning streak, Coastal is outscoring teams 192-61.

“The parallels are simple,” Schnall exclaimed when asked to compare this year’s team to the 2016 National Championship team. “Really good players, but they’re selfless in everything that they do. When you bring together a talented group of people who have that same mindset, this can happen.”

The red-hot Coastal Carolina program opens play in the Men’s College World Series on Friday at 1 p.m. CT/2 p.m. ET against the team it defeated in the 2016 CWS Final, Arizona.