What to know about South Carolina baseball’s interim coach
With the departure of head baseball coach Paul Mainieri, hitting coach Monte Lee will assume the duties as interim coach for the rest of the season, a university source confirmed to The State.
Lee’s debut will come Saturday at 4 p.m. when the Gamecocks take on Arkansas in game two of a three-game series.
The parting of ways between South Carolina and Mainieri came Saturday afternoon, just hours after the Gamecocks were bludgeoned in the series opener against the Razorbacks, falling 22-6 in a seven-inning game. In 80 games as South Carolina’s head coach, Mainieri went 40-40.
Now, it’ll be up to Lee to guide the Gamecocks for the final 33 games of the regular season.
A longtime assistant under Ray Tanner (2003-08), Lee parlayed his success working with the Gamecocks into a pair of head coaching stints. The first came with his alma mater, College of Charleston, where Lee led the Cougars to four NCAA Tournament appearances in seven seasons (2009-15), including a super regional berth in 2014.
That success caught the eye of Clemson, which hired Lee in 2015 to take over for the recently-fired Jack Leggett. Initially, it seemed like Lee was fitting in just fine in the Upstate, guiding Clemson to over 40 wins in his first three seasons. But things began to go downhill after COVID canceled the 2020 baseball season. In both 2021 and 2022, Clemson missed the NCAA Tournament and Lee was fired.
In a full-circle transition, Lee found his footing by returning to South Carolina, where he became an assistant coach under Mark Kingston. When Kingston was led go following the 2024 season, Lee lobbied hard for the head coaching job and was firmly in the mix to get the full-time gig.
Ultimately, then-athletic director Ray Tanner went with Mainieri, who offered Lee the opportunity to stay on as hitting coach, a role that made him the highest-paid assistant coach in college baseball ($550,000).
Now, a year and a half later, Lee will finally be leading the South Carolina baseball program.
