This recruiting goal is critical for South Carolina’s next baseball coach, Monte Lee says
South Carolina’s 2026 baseball season ended Tuesday with an 11-6 loss to Tennessee in the first round of the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama.
The Gamecocks (22-35) finished with the most losses in program history in a year that featured a midseason coaching change, going from Paul Mainieri to interim coach Monte Lee.
Here’s what Lee said about USC’s coaching vacancy and the ongoing search during his postgame remarks Tuesday in Hoover.
Question. Why should you be the next coach at South Carolina? What makes you the right guy to lead this program permanently?
MONTE LEE: I’ve been asked this quite a few times. And it gets a little hard to talk about yourself constantly. The only thing that I’ll say is this: I got into coaching 26 years ago to serve players and to be a good mentor, role model, coach the players to the best of my ability.
I’ve always had the players’ backs. And it’s been a blessing. It’s been a blessing to be a part of this program and all the other programs that I’ve been a part of as a coach. And I’ve had a lot of success as a head coach. I have.
I know this season has been really, really tough. The last two years have been really, really tough.
But look, I know who I am. I know what I’ve accomplished as a head coach. You can look at my track record, and I just ask anybody to look at my track record as a head coach. I’ve won plenty of games as a head coach.
Now, that being said, the administration has to make a decision as to who they think is the best leader for the program moving forward. And I respect that they’re going to go through that process and pick the right guy for the job.
If that’s not me, my time here has been a wonderful experience. It really has, from a guy that grew up 25 miles away, to grow up going to the football games, basketball games, baseball games, lived in this state my whole life, my family lives here. It’s been really, really special. It’s been an honor to be able to wear this uniform and to give the kids my very best.
I think ultimately, that’s the one thing that I can say is I gave them my very best. It didn’t always work out the way we wanted it to. And we’re certainly disappointed the way the season ended this year. But I gave them everything that I could.
Q. What will the rest of your week look like? Do you have any idea when you’ll have a chance to sit down with Athletic Director Jeremiah Donati and talk to him?
MONTE LEE: No, I haven’t heard from Jeremiah yet in regards to that. I’m sure that I will. So I don’t really know that. We’ll get up early in the morning and we’ll head back to Columbia.
And we’ll be doing exit meetings with the players, just one by one, just to talk to each guy. So we’ll get a sense of where they’re at and how they’re feeling moving forward.
And then from there I’ll certainly look forward to hearing from the administration really more so just what are some of the things that they’re going to want from me and the rest of the staff for the rest of this week. But I haven’t had that conversation yet with him, no.
Q. You’ve been here in some good moments and in some tough moments at South Carolina. What would you say is the biggest change or point or emphasis that needs to happen whether it’s you or another head coach for the program to turn back around?
MONTE LEE: Whoever the next leader of this program is, it needs to build a program.
The expectations of this program are very, very high. And we have tried really hard to put together teams every summer. And when we build a foundation that’s rock solid in this program, whoever the leader is, of bringing in high school players, we need to get back to recruiting kids in the state of South Carolina and kids closer to home, like a Pat Evans who will run through a brick wall for the program. We need more guys like him where it’s personal to them, the success of the program.
We certainly have to continue to recruit out of the portal and in junior college. That’s not going to go away. But I think to build a program, just building the classes from the ground up and letting the kids grow up in the program and recruiting kids that have a burning desire and a passion to play for South Carolina would be what I would recommend to the next leader.
And it’s got to be someone who this is their dream opportunity. It can’t be a financial situation, quite honestly. I’ve seen how that goes too. It’s got to be, I want to go to South Carolina no matter what they pay me because that’s where I want to be. I know the tradition. I know all the success the program’s had, and I want to be a part of that.
You’ve got to find someone who is super, super excited about the opportunity and not looking at it as a step up in regards to money and all of those things. I think that’s a big deal. Gotta find a guy that’s got a burning desire to be here.
Q. When you guys do have those exit meetings, with all the uncertainty, the players and you guys just not knowing what’s going to happen next as far as the next coach goes, how do you think you may handle those conversations? Whether it’s giving them advice on what they should do next, even though they may not know what’s next for South Carolina?
MONTE LEE: I went through this with the transition from Coach Kingston to Coach Mainieri, and I was in the interim role. Look, I tried to do everything that I could to just hold the roster together because I do think — this is just my opinion — I think, kids have ... it’s their right to decide whatever they want to do. If they want to go into the transfer portal, wait it out, stay here, it’s certainly their right.
What I’m going to do is just try to encourage them to just hold tight and be patient and see who the next leader of the program is because I have obviously full confidence that the administration is going to pick a tremendous leader to run the program.
So that’s going to be my advice to the players is just to be patient and wait and see how the process goes and see who the new leader is going to be before they decide to jump into the portal and transfer, unless, again, it’s something that they wholeheartedly want to do. So that’s going to be, I would say, just in general my message to the guys.
