Ranking the top 5 first seasons by a South Carolina coach in the SEC era
South Carolina had two new coaches leading their respective teams this spring season in baseball’s Paul Mainieri and softball’s Ashley Chastain Woodard.
Of those two, Chastain Woodard’s team excelled in Year 1, while Mainieri’s Gamecocks floundered.
It got us thinking: What were some of the better first-year performances a coach has had in South Carolina athletics history? For this ranking, we only considered coaches whose first year took place after South Carolina joined the SEC in the fall of 1991.
Here are the top five first-year USC coaching efforts in our eyes:
No. 1 — Ashley Chastain Woodard, softball
Record: 44-17
Year: 2025
There may be some recency bias here, but the numbers back it up.
Chastain Woodard broke the program record for wins by a first-year coach previously set by Judy Martino (38) in 1978.
She had the Gamecocks a single out away from their first appearance in the Women’s College World Series since 1997. South Carolina was picked to finish last in the SEC in a poll taken before this season, but Chastain Woodard helped the Gamecocks earn just their second winning record in conference play in the last 22 years.
USC hosted its first NCAA Tournament regional since 2018 and made it to the super regionals for just the third time in program history. The Gamecocks hosted a super regional for the first time and won their first game in a super.
First years don’t get much better than that.
No. 2 — Chad Holbrook, baseball
Record: 43-20
Year: 2013
Holbrook was given a nearly impossible task when he was hired to lead the South Carolina baseball program.
He took over for Ray Tanner, who had just guided USC to its third-straight College World Series and had won back-to-back national titles in 2010 and 2011.
South Carolina finished second in the SEC East and was bounced from the SEC Tournament early but still hosted an NCAA Tournament regional. The Gamecocks advanced to face North Carolina in the Chapel Hill Super Regional and lost the series finale 5-4, narrowly missing out on another trip to Omaha.
The 43 victories in 2013 are tied with the mark June Raines set in 1977 for the program record for first-year wins.
Holbrook’s successor, Mark Kingston, also made it to a third game of a super regional with a team that won 37 games in his first season in 2018.
No. 3 — Tom Mendoza, volleyball
Record: 20-10
Year: 2018
Mendoza inherited a program that had recorded a winning record just three times in the prior decade.
He tallied a 20-10 record in his first year as South Carolina head volleyball coach, the first 20-win season for the Gamecocks in a decade and the first winning record in four years.
South Carolina also made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 16 years during that same season.
Mendoza kept up the success after Year 1 and recorded a 20-12 record during his second season in 2019. It was the first time USC recorded back-to-back 20-plus win seasons with NCAA Tournament appearances since Kim Williams did it from 2000-02.
Mendoza’s 20 wins are the most by a first-year coach in the SEC era of the program’s history.
No. 4 — Dave Odom, men’s basketball
Record: 22-15
Year: 2001-02
Much like Mendoza, Odom inherited a program that hadn’t seen much success in the years immediately before his hiring.
South Carolina logged three winning seasons and two NCAA Tournament appearances — all under Eddie Fogler — in the 10 years prior to Odom’s tenure. Fogler’s final three USC teams didn’t do better than a .500 record.
In Odom’s’ first year, the Gamecocks were eliminated in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament and missed out on an NCAA Tournament bid.
The Gamecocks went 22-15 in his first season and lost in the NIT Championship game to Memphis. Odom went on to make the NCAA Tournament in his third season and win back-to-back NIT titles in 2005 and 2006.
Odom’s 22 wins are the most of any first-year coach in program history.
His successor, Darrin Horn, won 21 games in his first season with a team that won the SEC East title but lost in the first round of the NIT.
No. 5 (tie) — Shane Beamer and Brad Scott, football
Record: 7-6 (Beamer), 7-5 (Scott)
Year: 2021 (Beamer), 1994 (Scott)
Beamer took over a program that was spiraling downward after 2-8 and 4-8 seasons marked the end of the Will Muschamp era at South Carolina.
The Gamecocks went 7-6 in Beamer’s first year as head coach, including USC’s first bowl appearance in three years and first bowl win in four ties.
Beamer’s first year exceeded expectations and raised them for the future after a flashy win in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.
Scott’s tenure as a whole wasn’t regarded as a successful one, but his first year marked a milestone achievement for the South Carolina football program.
USC went 7-5 in Year 1 under Scott and ended with a 24-21 win over West Virginia in the CarQuest Bowl for the program’s first-ever bowl win.
Scott and Beamer are tied with Steve Spurrier for the program record of most wins in a coach’s first year during the SEC era. Branch Bocock (1925), Warren Giese (1956) and Jim Carlen (1975) also recorded seven wins in their first years as head coach.
