Paul Mainieri out, Monte Lee in as South Carolina baseball coach. Here’s what to know

Paul Mainieri is out as South Carolina’s head baseball coach after going 40-40 in 80 games over parts of two seasons. Assistant Monte Lee took over as interim coach and guided the Gamecocks to a 9-4 win over No. 4 Arkansas in Sunday’s SEC series finale.

FULL STORY: Paul Mainieri out as South Carolina baseball coach

Here are key takeaways from a busy weekend for South Carolina’s baseball program:

• The 68-year-old Mainieri, who won the 2009 national championship at LSU, said in a statement that he takes “full responsibility for the win/loss record” and that restoring the program “will take more time than I had anticipated and that is time that I just don’t have at my age.”

• The move came Saturday morning, and just a few hours after Arkansas beat South Carolina 22-6 Friday night in a game called after seven innings. Fans at Founders Park began chanting “We want beer” while the Gamecocks trailed 14-0.

• Mainieri was making $1.3 million annually on a contract running through May 2029. If he was dismissed without cause, he’d be owed around $4.15 million, but the language in the USC’s announcement of his departure suggests a possible negotiated settlement.

• Lee, who was passed over for the head coaching job when Mainieri was hired, made immediate changes: new offensive signs, tweaked pregame routines and shifted pitch-calling duties from catcher Talmadge LeCroy to coaches in the dugout.

• South Carolina beat No. 4 Arkansas 9-4 on Sunday behind four home runs, including two from Jake Randolph, snapping a seven-game losing streak and avoiding the worst start to SEC play in program history.

The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The full story in the link at top was reported, written and edited entirely by journalists.