Stuart Lake explains timing of move from Charleston Southern to USC

Former Charleston Southern head coach Stuart Lake was named the Coordinator of Baseball Administration and Director of Player Development at South Carolina on Thursday, the day before the start of practice and about three weeks before Opening Day.

Lake admitted that the timing was not ideal but said the opportunity to return to USC’s program, where he served as a volunteer assistant from 1999-2002, was too much to pass up.

“In this business and at this level these opportunities don’t really wait,” he said. “Coach (Chad) Holbrook completely understood if I didn’t want to do it, but opportunities to get back in to these type of programs, they just don’t come along very often. So when it was here I wanted to take it.”

Lake informed his team of the news on Thursday, and while meeting with his players was tough, he added that they were understanding.

“That was the worst day for me, just the relationships you build with these guys, with the coaches, with the trainers and everyone,” he said. “I don’t think we give these players enough credit. They understand that we’re all fighting to reach goals, and they were fantastic. That made me feel really good.”

NO COASTAL

South Carolina does not have Coastal Carolina, the defending national champions, on its schedule at this time, but Holbrook hopes to play the Chanticleers moving forward, possibly even this season.

He added that Coastal Carolina coach Gary Gilmore feels the same way.

“It just didn’t work out this year. There were a number of things,” Holbrook said. “We hope to play. If we have a rainout and they have a rainout this year we maybe will play. We hope to. I think Gary hopes to as well. Hopefully going forward we’ll be able to work it out and play. The days just didn’t match up this year… But we’re going to try our best to make it work going forward.”

NO ADDED PRESSURE

Despite Coastal being the defending national champs, Holbrook said there is no extra pressure for the Gamecocks to win their first national title since 2011.

“There’s great programs in this state, always has been always will. I’m not sitting here and our players are not sitting here with a greater sense of urgency because of who won the national championship last year. We’re just trying to be the best team we can be this year,” Holbrook said. “Coastal has the talent to win it again this year. We think that we have the talent to win it. That’s the beauty of the game. That’s the beauty of competition.”

This story was originally published January 28, 2017 at 11:17 PM with the headline "Stuart Lake explains timing of move from Charleston Southern to USC."