COLUMBIA, S.C. — Paul Mainieri is out as 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 won a College World Series with LSU in 2009, had been away from the game for three years before South Carolina lured him out of retirement. The Gamecocks went 28-29 last year in Mainieri’s debut season. They’re 12-11 so far this season.
South Carolina lost 22-6 to Arkansas on Friday for its sixth consecutive defeat. The loss dropped the Gamecocks to 0-4 in Southeastern Conference play.
“[Athletic director] Jeremiah Donati and I have agreed that the baseball program will be better served with new leadership,” Mainieri said Saturday in a statement released by the university. “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.”
Donati said he and Mainieri had a conversation Saturday and agreed this move would be in the best interest of the program. Mainieri said: “I did not get the job done at a level that I expected, or the university deserves.”
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 to ’94, 533-213-3 at Notre Dame from 1995 to 2006 and 641-285-3 at LSU from 2007 to ’21 before posting a 40-40 record in his 1½ seasons at South Carolina.
He ranks sixth in NCAA history in career wins. He made College World Series appearances with Notre Dame in 2002 and LSU in 2008, 2009, 2013, 2015 and 2017. His 2009 LSU team won it all and his 2017 squad was the CWS 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 a statement. “He is a Hall of Fame coach and a world-class individual, and we wish him and his family all the best.”
