Here is another way to look at "possible" reasons for club success in South Carolina.
Each section of the state of South Carolina possesses a distinct mentality, which may in turn translate into a unique "soccer" mentality at the club level. The Charleston area, the Columbia area, and the Greenville area have fielded a number of successful clubs over the last 20 years (Hungryneck, CMSA, DSA, St. Giles, GFC, NECSA, etc.) I grew up in Aiken, so I never played for a club IN one of the larger Metro areas, but as a player and now as a high school and club coach, I have competed against many dif. teams.
Over the course of 30 years I have spent a lot of time in each city, seeing the best and the worst, and I think that the mindset of many people who live in the Charleston and Columbia areas is to a degree a more South Carolinian, pride in the state, old school. Things seem more clickish, ideologies a tad more forged, etc.
I've lived in the upstate since 2000, and the mindset of many people in the Greenville area is different than what I saw in Aiken, Charleston or Columbia. Greenville seems less a part of "old" South Carolina and more an example of a midsize city in the new South. There seems to more of a mindset of collaboration across the board in people, from the revitilization of downtown, to people on the street, to perhaps the merging of two strong clubs by two coaches who saw a chance to do something differently.
There are a LOT of good coaches and players in Columbia and Charleston, and I think CUFC is doing things the right way, but I also think it's going to be harder for a club in Columbia to see the comprehensive success that CESA is experiencing simply because CESA is in Greenville and CUFC is in Columbia. The same for Bridge or MPSC in Charleston. The cities are different. The people are different. And the ideas and mindsets they bring with them are different.
Affluence, geographic size and ease of navigation all play roles also, but those are different points for a different day.
