Charleston Southern Athletic Director Jeff Barber announced Gabe Giardina would be the sixth head coach in Charleston Southern football history on Wednesday afternoon.
The Buccaneers announced on November 14th that the contract of head coach Autry Denson would not be renewed after the 2022 season. Charleston Southern finished the season with a 2-8 record and have not won a conference championship since the departure of head coach Jamey Chadwell.
Giardina has spent the last five seasons as the head coach at Albany State at the Division-II level. The Rams were 37-17, including a 26-5 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) record, over the five seasons under Giardina. The Rams won three division championships and one SIAC championship in Giardina’s tenure.
In 2021, Giardina was named the SIAC Coach of the Year after leading the Rams to a conference championship. He was also selected to serve as the co-head coach at the inaugural HBCU Legacy Bowl this past offseason next to FCS head coaches in Buddy Pough (South Carolina State) and Willie Simmons (Florida A&M).
Before his tenure at Albany State, Giardina served as the offensive coordinator under head coach Jamey Chadwell at Charleston Southern. Under Chadwell and Giardina, the Buccaneers won 36 games over four seasons, including two Big South championships (2015-2016) and the first FCS Playoff appearances in school history. In 2015, Charleston Southern was selected as a top-8 seed and made their only run to the quarterfinals in school history with a win over The Citadel in the second round of the playoffs.
Giardina began his coaching career at the University of Alabama as a graduate assistant under both Mike Shula and Nick Saban.
Charleston Southern will hold an official press conference on Friday, December 2, at 10am/ET to introduce Gabe Giardina as the next head football coach. Giardina did release a statement today on the announcement:
“The Giardina family is extremely excited to be coming home to Charleston Southern. I would like to thank Dr. Costin, Jeff Barber, Courtney Hall and their team for making our dream a reality. I am honored to be the Head Coach at a place that has meant so much to us in the past and puts Christ first in everything it does. Wimberly, our boys, and I cannot wait to connect with the CSU football players, alumni and the Low Country.”
The press conference will be streamed live via ESPN+ and be held in the Team Room of the Athletic Performance Center.
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