Report: South Carolina set to hire former College World Series winner as next head coach

The South Carolina Gamecocks are set to make a big hire with their next baseball coach.

D1Baseball’s Kendall Rogers reported on Monday that former LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri is expected to be named South Carolina’s next head baseball coach.

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

Mainieri coached at LSU from 2007-2021 and took the Tigers to the College World Series five times. They won the championship in 2009. The 66-year-old coach has won 1,505 games during his college coaching career.

South Carolina fired Mark Kingston as their head coach last week after he went 37-25 and 13-17 in the SEC this season. Kingston was 217-155 overall in seven seasons and had led South Carolina to the NCAA Tournament four times, including two Super Regional appearances.

South Carolina won back-to-back national championships in 2010 and 2011 and was the runner-up in 2012. They are hoping Mainieri will help them return to that level of success.