After brief break from baseball, Gamecock great Scott Wingo is at home in Columbia
Sometime in 2018, Scott Wingo lost the itch.
The former South Carolina great had his fill of coaching, tired of the grind that comes with being a volunteer assistant. He was ready to see the world outside the white lines of the baseball field.
So after his 2018 season at Jacksonville, Wingo moved back to Columbia, got his real estate license and worked with his good friend’s staffing firm.
He lasted eight months.
That itch — that first love — returned with gusto the moment Wingo started fielding calls from Division I head coaches looking for volunteer assistants. When Wingo heard from Link Jarrett at Notre Dame, he followed his heart to South Bend, Indiana, and he spent the last two seasons coaching outfielders for the Irish.
“After that 2018 season, I felt like maybe I needed to just possibly step away for a little bit to see some other options,” Wingo said. “And I think that six to eight months (away) sort of solidified it for me as far as knowing where my heart wanted to be.”
Fittingly, Wingo’s decision to return to baseball led him right back to Columbia.
Earlier this month the former Gamecocks second baseman accepted a volunteer coaching position on Mark Kingston’s USC staff, leaving Notre Dame and returning to the program where he won two national championships.
Fans will soon be able to see Wingo manning the third-base coach’s box at Founders Park, wearing the same No. 8 that he wore as a player during USC’s 2010 and 2011 College World Series title runs under Ray Tanner.
“It’s an honor to be able to come here and coach at your alma mater,” Wingo said Thursday in his introductory news conference. “The respect I have for these fans, they know the game of baseball. They know how to win. They expect to win. And that’s something I got to see in my four years here.”
In Gamecock baseball lore, Wingo’s name is synonymous with winning. He was one of the key veterans behind USC’s back-to-back titles, winning Most Outstanding Player of the 2011 series while serving as senior team captain.
Drafted in the 11th round by the Dodgers in the 2011 MLB Draft, Wingo spent three seasons in professional baseball before returning to USC in 2015 to serve as a student assistant. In 2016 and 2017, Wingo coached at North Greenville University while earning his master’s degree, and he spent one season at Jacksonville before stepping away from coaching.
Now, Wingo will replace nine-year assistant Stuart Lake who — much like Wingo once did — left USC to pursue interests outside baseball.
On a new-look coaching staff that also added pitching coach Justin Parker and assistant Chad Caillet, Wingo will primarily coach outfielders but will also assist with infielders and hitters. He promises to be aggressive as a third-base coach. And if fans boo him for waving a runner home, he said, “I’ll be ready for them.”
Though he briefly stepped away from the game, Wingo is back at home in Columbia, a place where he’ll always be a two-time champion, where even the current-day players still greet him with reverence.
“When some of these guys tell me that they went to one of our parades or just was watching the games, it makes me feel old,” Wingo said, laughing.
“Most of the guys knew of me. And it was pretty humbling and a cool experience to just get to talk to them a little bit — especially about those those two years in ‘10 and ‘11.”
This story was originally published August 27, 2021 at 9:11 AM.
