A famous Coastal Carolina alum threw shade at campus. We invite him back | Opinion

Ahead of the Masters golf tournament, South Carolina native and two-time major championship winner Dustin Johnson was asked about his time at Coastal Carolina University in an appearance on the Sundae Conversation interview show.

Host Caleb Pressley, known for his comedic interview style and for framing questions in an unconventional way, asked Johnson, “For people who don’t understand Coastal Carolina, what grade of high school is that equal to?”

Johnson played along, saying that the university was academically equivalent to a junior year in high school. He told Pressley that Coastal was not difficult, but they did make you go to class.

As CCU’s Provost (aka the person in charge of academics), I would like to personally invite Johnson back to campus for a tour.

One of the first things he would probably notice is how much we have grown since he started as a student in fall 2003. There were 6,780 students in fall 2003, and we set an enrollment record of 11,348 students in fall 2024. We had more than 21,000 applications that year and an impressive 24,000 applications (and counting) this year.

Our tour would also cover the wide variety of academic programs offered at CCU. There are 115 academic courses of study including our nationally recognized programs in marine science, musical theater and intelligence and security studies. I am confident Johnson would be particularly impressed with our Professional Golf Management program, one of only 16 programs accredited by the PGA of America. Of course, the tour would include a stop at the site of the program’s new 16,000 square-foot Academic Learning Lab that is currently under construction.

We would even work in some class time, but it would likely be different than the courses Johnson took when he was on campus.

Today, our students take part in a host of non-conventional learning experiences, where they are immersed in high-impact, hands-on learning. Our tour would also connect with several of our Vertically Integrated Projects teams, where we foster dynamic research collaboration between students and faculty, addressing pressing global challenges through large-scale, multidisciplinary projects. We would end this portion of our tour by meeting with the faculty, staff and students in our newly established space program, the first hosted by an academic institution in our state.

I would also be sure to connect Johnson with students in our growing Honors College. We were recently named a Top Producing Institution for Fulbright U.S. Students, according to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. CCU is one of 84 institutions in the nation and the only school in South Carolina on this list. I would introduce him to Alondra Johnson, a junior music major and our first-ever Truman Scholar finalist. Only one other South Carolina institution had a Truman Scholar finalist in this cycle for the prestigious public service award.

Lastly, our tour would give Johnson the chance to meet our faculty. CCU recently earned a Research Colleges and Universities designation by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education because we had more than $4.7 million in research expenditures and 23 research doctorates awarded.

So, DJ, come back to the Grand Strand. I am confident you will be proud to call Coastal Carolina University your alma mater. However, I do have to let you know that we still want students to go to class.

This story was originally published April 15, 2025 at 11:46 AM.