Chowan football, just passing through the Gulf South Conference for two years until reaching its permanent league home in Conference Carolinas, was picked ninth in the GSC’s preseason poll.
The Gulf South released its predicted order of finish on Thursday at its Media Day event in Birmingham.
Forgive the rest of the league’s coaches for not being familiar with Chowan, which likely deserved better billing considering the Hawks finished 7-4 a year ago and won the Northern Division of the CIAA.
Gulf South coaches tabbed Delta State and West Florida as the top conference teams. Both have been mentioned in the national rankings thus far. West Florida went 12-2 a year ago and lost in the D2 semifinals. Delta State was 11-2 last year.
West Georgia (8-2 in 2022), West Alabama (5-6) and Valdosta State (5-6) round out the top-five. Mississippi College (4-7), North Greenville (3-8) and Shorter (3-8) also rank above the Hawks.
Chowan will have a new head coach this season in Paul Johnson. The Hawks kick off the season Aug. 31 against Barton College before hosting Delta State in week two.
Starting with the 2025 season, Chowan will move to the Conference Carolinas as a full member. Conference Carolinas recently announced the addition of Shorter as the league’s 15th member and sixth football playing member in 2024-25.
It will mark the first time in Chowan’s Division II history that all of Chowan’s sponsored sports will be under the same conference affiliation. Conference Carolinas will feature six programs with football: Barton, Chowan, Erskine, UNC Pembroke, North Greenville and Shorter.
The temporary addition to the Gulf South assures Chowan a conference affiliation during its transition as well as four guaranteed home games and four guaranteed away games.
