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South Carolina coaching search: Gamecocks expected to hire former SEC coach, College World Series winner
By Andrew Olson
Published:
South Carolina has reportedly found its new baseball coach. The Gamecocks are reportedly turning to a former SEC coach who knows what it takes to win the College World Series.
College baseball insiders Teddy Cahill (Baseball America) Kendall Rogers (D1Baseball) shared Monday that all indications are Paul Mainieri will be South Carolina’s next head coach. Mainieri won the 2009 CWS at LSU, retiring as the head coach of the Tigers following the 2021 season.
BREAKING: Paul Mainieri is expected to be named the new head baseball coach at @GamecockBasebll, @d1baseball has learned. Mainieri guided #LSU to the 2009 national championship and has tallied more than 1,500 wins in his career. Kudos to @tedcahill for 1st mentioning poss. pic.twitter.com/d07XDCEL3o
— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) June 10, 2024
South Carolina moved on from Mark Kingston after the Gamecocks’ 2024 season came to a close with a disappointing exit in the NCAA Regional round.
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Mainieri brings decorated resume to Columbia
Mainieri, who turns 67 in August, coached from 1983-to-2021, notching 1,501 wins before announcing his retirement. He’s best known for his time at Notre Dame and LSU.
Mainieri became Notre Dame’s tenure began ahead of the 1995 season. He built the Fighting Irish into a regular postseason contender. Under Mainieri, Notre Dame won the Big East regular-season title 4 times and conference tournament title 5 times. He was named the Big East Coach of the Year for the 2001 season.
After the 2006 season, Mainieri returned to LSU, where he began his college career in 1976, to become the head coach of the Tigers.
In 2009, Mainieri’s third season, LSU swept the SEC regular-season and tournament championships before winning the College World Series. Mainieri was named SEC Coach of the Year and received national Coach of the Year recognition from multiple publications and the NCBWA.
Mainieri would guide LSU to more SEC regular-season (2012, ’15, ’17) and tournament (2010, ’13, ’14, ’17) titles, but another CWS crown eluded his Tigers teams. Under Mainieri, LSU was an NCAA Tournament national seed 9 times. The Tigers won 9 NCAA Regionals and 5 Super Regionals.
Mainieri last took LSU to Omaha in 2017. The Tigers finished as runner-ups to Florida. In 2021, Mainieri’s final season, LSU won the Eugene Regional, but saw its season end in the Knoxville Super Regional, falling to Tennessee.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
