One of the benefits of qualifying for a bowl game is that you can use the appearance to promote your program.
But on Tuesday, Costal Carolina took the promotion of its upcoming appearance in the EasyPost Hawai’i Bowl a bit too far, posting a picture to social media of head coach Tim Beck, shirtless, posing alongside the Chanticleers’ bikini-clad dance team (the program’s mascot, Chauncey the Chanticleer was also in the picture).
Three hours after posting the pic to X, the Coastal Carolina football program’s account deleted the post — but not before it went quasi-viral among college football fans.
It appears that after roughly 3 hours of online circulation and 54 bookmarks, the geniuses over at @CoastalFootball have finally deleted this tweet. pic.twitter.com/QlFTbVIj3Y
— SBC TOURNEY CHAMPS 2024-25 (@AppStateConeBoy) December 20, 2023
Asked about the since-deleted picture at a press availability, Beck offered only a vague explanation.
“It was a very spontaneous event,” he said, according to the Myrtle Beach Sun News. “There was no intent to try to generate any particular kind of response one way or the other of how that was. So, I mean, that’s that’s kind of my statement really on it.”
CCU Director of Communication Jerry Rashid added: “Coach Beck has stated that the photo was taken spontaneously while members of the University’s travel group were on the beach together. There was no intent to generate a particular response. The photo was taken as part of the football team’s documentation of its trip to Honolulu to participate in the Hawaii Bowl. The Chanticleers look forward to playing in the bowl game on Saturday.”
Coastal Carolina has yet to offer an official reason why the post was deleted, but it’s a safe bet that somebody thought better of it once seeing the response. Although there isn’t anything remotely suggestive about the picture, the optics of a shirtless 57-year-old man posing alongside 10 bikini-wearing college-aged woman were, if nothing else, odd and likely not what the Chanticleers want to be represented by heading into their national showcase.
While the picture itself may have caused an unnecessary distraction, one could argue that deleting it only drew more attention to it. After all, as they say, screenshots live forever. And that means that a shirtless Tim Beck is now forever etched into college football lore.
