Until the early 1960s, Coastal’s teams were known as the Trojans. When the school became an extension of the University of South Carolina, the push was made for a mascot more in line with the parent’s mascot, the Gamecock; the ultimate choice was the Chanticleer, the proud, witty rooster made famous in “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale” of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales (the mascot itself would be named Zachary). When Coastal became an independent university in 1993, despite some calls to change the mascot as part of “a complete split from USC” , the Chanticleer remained the school’s mascot.