COLUMBIA, S.C. — Paul Mainieri is out as the University of South Carolina’s baseball coach midway through his second season after he couldn’t approach the level of success he had produced at LSU.
Mainieri, 68, who led LSU to the 2009 College World Series championship in Omaha, Nebraska, had been away from the game for three years before South Carolina lured him out of retirement. The Gamecocks went 40-40 under Mainieri.
His departure Saturday came a day after South Carolina lost 22-6 to Arkansas for its sixth consecutive defeat. South Carolina lost again to Arkansas on Saturday, 3-2 in 10 innings, with Monte Lee serving as interim head coach. The Gamecocks fell to 12-12 overall and 0-5 in Southeastern Conference competition this season.
“(Athletic director) Jeremiah Donati and I have agreed that the baseball program will be better served with new leadership,” Mainieri said in a news release issued Saturday by South Carolina. “I take full responsibility for the win/loss record of the baseball program over the 80 games I have served as head coach.
“When (former athletic director) Ray Tanner invited me to come out of three years of retirement to coach again, my goal was to work with young people again and restore the South Carolina program to greatness with a return to Omaha. My staff and I have worked diligently in an attempt to accomplish that goal. Unfortunately, that goal has not materialized as quickly as I would have liked and will take more time than I had anticipated and that is time that I just don’t have at my age.”
South Carolina has reached the College World Series 11 times, but the most recent trip to Omaha was in 2012, when the Gamecocks were national runners-up a year after repeating as champions. Those are the program’s only national titles.
Donati said he and Mainieri had a conversation Saturday and agreed this move would be in the best interest of the program.
“I did not get the job done at a level that I expected, or the university deserves,” Mainieri said.
South Carolina went 28-29 under Mainieri last season. This year, the Gamecocks were 12-5 after a three-game sweep of Princeton two weeks ago, but they haven’t won since.
Mainieri has a 1,545-817-8 record in a 39-year head coaching career. He went 179-121-2 at St. Thomas from 1983-88, 152-158 at Air Force from 1989-94, 533-213-3 at Notre Dame from 1995 to 2006, and 641-285-3 at LSU from 2007-21.
He ranks sixth in NCAA history in career wins. He made CWS appearances with Notre Dame in 2002 and LSU in 2008, 2009, 2013, 2015 and 2017. His 2017 LSU team was the national runner-up.
“I appreciate everything Paul has poured into our student-athletes and our program, not just at South Carolina, but throughout his career,” Donati said in the release. “He is a Hall of Fame coach and a world-class individual, and we wish him and his family all the best.”
Lee had been a hitting coach on Mainieri’s staff. He posted a 276-145 record as College of Charleston’s head coach from 2009-15 and went 242-136 at Clemson from 2016-22.