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LSU coach Paul Mainieri (Justin Tafoya/NCAA Photographs Through Getty)
A number of sources on Monday advised Baseball America that South Carolina is focusing on Paul Mainieri as its subsequent head coach. As of but, there isn’t a affirmation {that a} deal is in place.
Mainieri, who gained the 2009 nationwide championship at LSU, has been out of baseball for the final three seasons after retiring because the Tigers coach following the 2021 season.
Mainieri, 66, would convey a powerful pedigree. He was a head coach for 39 seasons at LSU, Notre Dame, Air Drive and St. Thomas (Fla.) and ranks eighth all-time in wins with 1,505. Mainieri led LSU to the nationwide championship in 2009 and a runner-up end in 2017. He’s considered one of 13 coaches to guide two totally different packages to the School World Collection and was named Baseball America Coach of the Yr in 2009.
When Mainieri retired three years in the past, sources mentioned he stepped down due to well being points, as he suffered from migraine complications in 2021. After his retirement, nevertheless, Mainieri has by no means gone removed from teaching. He was concerned in teaching searches at Notre Dame in 2022 and Miami in 2023 earlier than passing on each alternatives.
If Mainieri does settle for the job, he’ll return to the dugout after three seasons away and achieve this in a really attention-grabbing spot. He shall be working for Ray Tanner, in opposition to whom he used to compete within the SEC earlier than he was promoted to athletic director in 2012. Additionally it is in opposition to Tanner whom each South Carolina baseball coach is judged. Tanner gained back-to-back nationwide titles in 2010-11 and performed for a 3rd straight title in 2012. In his 16 years on the program’s helm, he turned the Gamecocks into one of many sport’s premier packages and made six appearances in Omaha.
Since Tanner turned athletic director, nevertheless, South Carolina has not maintained that degree of success. First underneath Chad Holbrook after which Mark Kingston, the Gamecocks have slid into the center of the SEC pack over the past 12 years. They’ve made the NCAA Event seven occasions, nonetheless a robust charge, and made tremendous regionals 4 occasions. However they haven’t been to Omaha, haven’t gained the SEC and hosted supers simply as soon as.
Within the 12 years since South Carolina’s final CWS look, 10 SEC faculties have reached Omaha – and that doesn’t depend Oklahoma and Texas, which have each been in that time-frame and at the moment are becoming a member of the convention.
Getting South Carolina again to that degree can be Mainieri’s remit. He must navigate the switch portal, the brand new NIL realities, a 16-team tremendous convention and, presumably, a totally restructured faculty baseball panorama after the settlement of Home v. NCAA. All of that has modified considerably since he led LSU.
It gained’t be straightforward, however Mainieri has proved to be impressively adaptable in his profession. He coached at a service academy, an elite educational college within the Midwest and, arguably, the game’s largest job. He gained in any respect three. Main South Carolina in 2025 would maybe require his largest adjustment but.
