Aug. 13, 2005
Cliff Godwin – formerly a standout catcher at East Carolina who has served most recently on the baseball staffs at Vanderbilt and North Carolina Wilmington – has been named an assistant baseball coach at Notre Dame, head coach Paul Mainieri announced today. Godwin fills the spot on Mainieri’s staff previously held by David Grewe, who was named head coach at Michigan State earlier this summer.
Godwin will serve as Notre Dame’s lead hitting coach while working directly with the team’s catchers. Third-year assistant and Irish pitching coach Terry Rooney has assumed Grewe’s recruiting coordinator duties, a role Rooney previously held at Stetson. Godwin will assist Rooney in Notre Dame’s recruiting effort and also will combine with third-year volunteer assistant John Gumpf in the coaching of the Irish outfielders.
Prior to serving as director of baseball operations at Vanderbilt during the 2004-05 academic year, Godwin spent one season as a volunteer assistant coach at UNC Wilmington (’03-’04). His duties at Vanderbilt included helping to organize all day-to-day activities associated with the baseball program while also serving as the program’s liaison to the Bullpen Club support group. He was part of an historic season at UNC Wilmington in 2004, as the Seahawks claimed their first Colonial Athletic Conference title and advanced to the final game of the NCAA regional that was held in Kinston, N.C., and hosted by Godwin’s alma mater East Carolina.
An all-region catcher and two-time Academic All-American during his career at East Carolina (’97-’01), Godwin is fresh off the unique experience of serving as head coach for the Wilmington Sharks, a collegiate summer team in the wood-bat Coastal Plains League. The Sharks finished second in the first-half standings of the CPL’s South Division, with a 23-15 record at the mid-summer break. Godwin also served as a head coach in the 2005 CPL All-Star Game, helping guide his team to a 5-3 victory at Historic Fleming Stadium in Wilson, N.C.
“Cliff brings to our team everything I was looking for in Dave Grewe’s replacement,” says Mainieri, who has seen three of his former assistants be named Division I head coaches during the past few years (also Brian O’Connor at Virginia and Cory Mee at Toledo, both in the summer of 2003).
“He has a great deal of energy to work with all of our players, having competed at a very high level and knowing what it takes to win. Cliff also has a tremendous catching background and will instruct our catchers in a way I want to see them develop. He throws great batting practice – and all day long – and his hitting philosophy is very consistent with mine. He believes in playing the game very aggressively and he has a great personality that I believe all our players will really enjoy,” adds Mainieri, who shares a link with Godwin as the son of a legendary coach (Lewis Godwin, who has spent the past 30 years as basketball coach at Greene Central High School in Snow Hill, N.C.).
“Cliff comes highly recommended by people I trust and that have been around him on an everyday basis. In short, I really think he is going to be outstanding in every way. I feel very confident that Cliff will pick up where Dave left off and our program will continue to prosper.”
Godwin is credited with making a big impact on the young UNC Wilmington catchers during his season with the Seahawks in 2004. Neal Eichhorn earned all-conference (CAA) honors that season while Chris Hatcher went on to be a second team all-conference catcher in 2005. Godwin also assisted with the hitters and was the first-base coach on Mark Scalf’s staff, with UNCW racking up 104 stolen bases during the ’04 season. The team’s 2004 trip to the NCAAs held special significance for Godwin, as the Seahawks were placed in East Carolina’s regional that was held that year in Kinston.
A five-year member of the baseball program at East Carolina, Godwin redshirted as a freshman before serving as a top catcher for the Pirates during the 1998-2001 seasons. The three-year team co-captain started 126 games during his final three seasons at ECU, earning all-East Region honors from the American Baseball Coaches Association in his final season after batting .322 with 15 home runs and 45 RBI. The lefthanded-swinging Godwin also was a first team all-Colonial Athletic Association selection in 2001, when his other season stats included 14 doubles and 23 walks in 57 games played (with 51 starts).
One of three ECU players ever to receive official Academic All-America honors (as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America), Godwin was a third team Academic All-American in 1999 before being named to the second team in his final season (’01).
Godwin helped Keith LeClair’s ECU teams win nearly 100 games more than they lost during his four seasons (169-76), including 46-plus wins in each of his Godwin’s final three years (46-16 in ’99, 46-18 in ’00 and 47-13 in ’01). His career totals with the Pirates included 24 home runs, 31 doubles and 95 RBI.
East Carolina won two CAA conference tournament titles and advanced to the NCAAs every season from 1999-2001. The Pirates were the top seed in their regional all three years, advancing to the super-regional round in 2001 before being eliminated by Tennessee. Godwin was named to the all-tournament team at the 2001 NCAA regional, hosted by ECU in Wilson, N.C.
“It is a tremendous honor to have the opportunity to work at Notre Dame, a school with a great academic reputation and a baseball program known for its winning tradition. The combination of academic and athletic excellence at Notre Dame allow us to recruit a special kind of student-athlete, one who is self-motivated in the classroom and on the baseball field,” says Godwin.
“I am very excited to work with Paul Mainieri and Terry Rooney. Paul is such a respected coach throughout the nation and is a proven winner who does things the right way.”
Godwin – who spent the 2003 season as an assistant baseball coach at Kinston High School and has been a private baseball instructor since 1999 – played two seasons of professional baseball in 2001 and ’02, for the Frontier League’s Gateway Grizzlies (based in Sauget, Ill.). That team is owned by former Notre Dame catcher Rich Sauget, Sr., whose son Rich Sauget, Jr., was manager of the Grizzlies during one of Godwin’s seasons with the club.
His time in the Coastal Plains League during the summer of ’05 provided Godwin the opportunity to observe one of Notre Dame’s current players, rising senior centerfielder Alex Nettey.
The Snow Hill, N.C., native was a three-sport standout at Greene Central High School, earning all-conference honors in football, basketball and baseball. He also was an all-state performer in baseball, starred on the hardwood as a shooting guard for his father’s team and quarterbacked the Greene Central football team to the best season in the school’s history, receiving conference player-of-the-year honors during that senior season (1995).
Godwin has an indirect connection to the Notre Dame program, as O’Connor’s current top assistant at Virginia is Kevin MacMullan – who was an assistant at ECU during Godwin’s career with the Pirates.
He graduated magna cum laude from East Carolina in 2000, with a bachelor of science degree in management information systems. Godwin received the Pat Draughon Postgraduate Scholarship and – after completing his final season in 2001 – went on to receive his MBA from ECU in 2002.