On To A New Challenge
Conway, SC. - “This isn’t how it was supposed to happen. Not how it was planned,” began an emotional Kade Vaughn at an impromptu press conference inside Arcadia Hall; hastily called after a firestorm that erupted the night before.
What had been a quiet offseason in college football, just three weeks after Coastal Carolina secured its second straight national championship, had turned into a spectacle. An anonymous source told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler that Vaughn had agreed to a contract to leave Conway, though the destination was initially undisclosed.
“I wanted to talk to my guys first. My staff, the people who make this machine go every single day. But apparently, someone else had a different plan,” Vaughn said, his voice steady but laced with frustration. “And like on the football field, sometimes you’ve got to make an audible.”
Then came the headline moment.
“I have called this press conference to address the reports from last night about my future,” Vaughn continued. “The report is true. I have accepted an offer to begin a new chapter away from the Teal confines of Conway.
With the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
The room fell into a collective hush, followed by a rush of camera shutters and frantic typing. After nine seasons, 119 wins, and three national titles, Kade Vaughn, the architect of one of college football’s most unlikely dynasties, was gone.
Nearly an hour later, amid a barrage of questions, the story behind the move began to emerge. Vaughn confirmed that he met with longtime Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin for dinner before the Chanticleers Week 12 clash in Pittsburgh , a meeting that had already drawn scrutiny from Coastal’s athletic department.
That dinner, which Vaughn had repeatedly described as “casual and professional,” was apparently anything but.
“Coach Tomlin told me that this season would be his last,” Vaughn said. “He wanted to gauge my interest in making the jump to the NFL. I wasn’t expecting that conversation to turn the way it did.”
Vaughn added that team owner Daniel Martin Rooney, who succeeded his father in 2028, was not part of that initial meeting. But Tomlin’s endorsement carried weight.
When Vaughn later took a weekend trip to Los Angeles ahead of the ACC Championship Game, speculation swirled that he was meeting with USC officials. In reality, it was Tomlin he’d gone to see. The veteran coach was in town for the Steelers’ matchup with the Rams, and Vaughn used the opportunity to make his intentions clear.
“I told him then, before we even played in the ACC title game, to tell Dan [Rooney] to put the papers in. I was ready,” Vaughn said.
Within weeks, the Steelers had formally submitted a request through NCAA channels to interview Vaughn, the same “mystery NFL team” referenced in postseason reports.
“I’ve said it before, the NFL was the only way I’d ever leave Conway,” Vaughn said. “I’ve turned down Oklahoma, Florida, Oregon, LSU, USC… the list goes on. But this one was different. This was the Steelers.”
When asked if he knew who leaked the news to ESPN, Vaughn’s smile briefly returned, thin, restrained, and unmistakably pointed.
“I have an idea,” he said. “I think we all do. But I’m not going to waste my last few days here turning this into a war of words. What’s done is done.”
That line “we all do” immediately reignited speculation of Vaughn’s deteriorating relationship with athletic director Mike Buddie.
“It stopped being about what was best for Coastal and started being about who was in control.”
For all the noise, nothing can diminish Vaughn’s legacy in Conway.
When he arrived as an interim hire in 2025; a young, brash coach with a chip on his shoulder and a spread-option offense that few could keep up with; Coastal Carolina was a novelty act with teal turf and potential.
Nine seasons later, Vaughn leaves as a three time national champion with a résumé that belongs on a Hall of Fame track.
• Record: 119–13 overall
• Bowl Games: 15–3
• Rivalry Games: 7–0
• Top-25 Record: 47–8
• Conference Titles: 5 (2 Sun Belt, 3 ACC)
• Playoff Appearances: 6
From a 15–0 title run to back-to-back 10-win “down years” to a jaw-dropping 46–1 stretch to close his tenure, Vaughn didn’t just elevate Coastal Carolina, he redefined what a Group of Five program could be.
As ESPN’s Pat McAfee put it bluntly on his show,
“He didn’t just win at Coastal — he broke the sport’s hierarchy. The dude went 47-8 against Top 25 teams. Nearly half his games were against ranked opponents. And they crushed them. I don’t know if it’ll work in Pittsburgh, but if he ever comes back to college, there isn’t an AD in America; besides Buddie, who wouldn’t pick up the phone.”
Now, the focus shifts back to Conway and to Buddie, who must replace the most successful coach in school history amid fractured trust and a restless fanbase.
The internal favorite, defensive coordinator Tony White, is unlikely to take the job. The former Memphis head coach reportedly made his loyalties to Vaughn clear throughout the season.
“It would be a slap in the face to Kade if Tony took that job,” said one source close to the program. “And I don’t think he’d feel right doing it.”
External candidates will be plentiful, and expensive. Iowa’s Alex Golesh, Troy’s Marcus Freeman, former USC coach Dan Lanning, Georgia DC Glenn Schumann, Penn State OC Andy Kotelnicki and Michigan State’s Kenny Dillingham are among the names circulating nationally. But with powerhouse programs like LSU, USC, and Colorado also in the market, Coastal may find itself outbid for the first time in years.
Whether Buddie can keep the Chanticleers afloat in the post Vaughn era will define his own tenure, and perhaps vindicate or condemn the power struggle that drove one of college football’s most successful coaches to the NFL.
For now, Vaughn leaves Conway behind a man who turned teal into a national color, and a program once built on audacity into one built on excellence.
