Monte Lee fully understands state’s big rivalry
Clemson baseball coach Monte Lee takes great pride in the fact that he’s a South Carolina native who played college ball here and coached his entire career in the Palmetto State.
That also gives him a distinction the past three coaches in the Clemson-South Carolina baseball rivalry can’t claim: Lee has been around the Gamecocks and Tigers his entire life.
“Growing up in the state of South Carolina, we don’t have any professional sports,” Lee said. “College baseball is huge in this state, and when you grow up in South Carolina like I have, you’re on one side of the fence or the other. This rivalry is second to none in college baseball.”
Jack Leggett, who Lee replaced when he was officially hired last Thursday, is from Maine. Ray Tanner, the former USC coach and current athletics director, and Chad Holbrook, the Gamecocks’ current leader, are both North Carolina natives.
There’s another distinction Lee holds. Joining football coaches such as Brad Scott, Tommy West, Ellis Johnson and Rick Stockstill, Lee has worked at both schools.
He was one of Tanner’s assistants from 2003-2008, before leaving for the head coaching job at College of Charleston in 2009. His tenure at USC is when he really built his name as a top-notch recruiter and his philosophy as a guy who emphasizes keeping in-state talent in the state.
That can have a direct influence on a pair of programs that have combined to make nine College World Series appearances since 2002.
“This is not a shot at anybody out of the state, but kids that grow up in this state and play in this state know the stakes of the rivalry,” Clemson first baseman Andrew Cox, a Belton-Honea Path product, said. “Guys in South Carolina that come to play here or at South Carolina, it means a little more to them. To know he’s going to recruit this state inside and out, hard, like he said, is promising. I know he and (assistant) coach (Bradley) LeCroy will bring in the best.”
It’ll only amp up a series that’s never lacked intensity. However, when Leggett and Tanner were at their respective schools, the two famous coaches took it to a very high level. USC has toppled the Tigers in the College World Series twice (2002 and 2010), and the Gamecocks went on to win their first national title in the latter. In 2011, Leggett accused USC’s players of warming their bats, setting off a ticked-off Tanner in a postgame rant you can still find on YouTube.
In his 22 years at Clemson, Leggett posted a 37-44 record against the Gamecocks, who have dominated the series by winning 24 of the 34 meetings since 2007. The Tigers did take two of three in 2015, but they’re 3-6 since 2013, Holbrook’s first season.
During Lee’s six years with the Gamecocks, they went 13-11 against Clemson, which hasn’t been to CWS since 2010. USC’s last trip came in 2012, Tanner’s last year.
Just because the faces have changed and Lee has friends on both sides, Tanner doesn’t see any of the fire going out of this rivalry.
“A lot of people don’t think the rivalry is going to be as great,” Tanner said during an interview last week on SportsTalk Radio Network. “I can assure you that sometimes when you’re close, the rivalry is even greater. The battles are more intense.”
The feuding won’t be contained to the playing field. Holbrook and Lee are considered two of the top recruiters in the region, which is sure to lead to fierce competition in the homes of prospects all over the state and country.
“It’s going to be one of respect,” Lee said about his relationship with Holbrook. “We respect each other. We have a relationship with each other. But when it comes to recruiting and coaching against each other, we’re going to get after each other extremely hard.”