South Carolina begins interview process for baseball job. The latest, possible timeline
South Carolina will hire a new baseball coach soon. Just how soon is to be determined.
The Gamecocks, which parted ways with head coach Paul Mainieri in March and let go of interim coach Monte Lee following the losingest season in program history (22-35), are currently the top job open in college baseball.
But that doesn’t mean South Carolina can fill the job immediately.
The issue: All of the Gamecocks’ top candidates are coaching teams that are playing in the NCAA Tournament, which begins with regionals this week.
“This is a highly desirable job. That’s been very clear from everyone we spoke to,” USC Athletic Director Jeremiah Donati told The State this week. “I think (we) require a little bit of patience, just because the schedule is so fluid. We’re going to hire someone as fast as we can.”
In saying that, though, Donati confirmed he’s started the interview process with potential coaches.
“(It’s) started and is going really well,” Donati said, “but it’s just hard to come up with concrete timelines because seasons are still going on.”
The consensus around college baseball, and via reporting, is that Coastal Carolina’s Kevin Schnall is the frontrunner to land the Gamecocks’ head coaching job.
Schnall, whose Chanticleers begin tournament play on Friday in the Tallahassee Regional, told SportsTalk’s Phil Kornblut on Tuesday that while he hadn’t personally spoken to South Carolina about the opening, his agent was contacted by USC’s search firm, TurnkeyZRG, but received “very little information.”
Donati was clear that South Carolina’s search is far more wide-reaching than one person.
“We’re considering a lot of names and we haven’t focused in on any one candidate,” he said. “We’re trying to be very open-minded about what the program needs in the short term, what it needs in the long term, who’s the best person to build this foundation.”
The key word there: foundation.
Donati noted that he’s been speaking to a number of folks who have been around the South Carolina baseball program, most of whom reiterated that there’s been too much change.
Think about it: Since 2021, the Gamecocks have cycled thorough four pitching coaches: Three under Mark Kingston — Skylar Meade (’21), Justin Parker (’22-‘23), Matt Williams (’24) — and Terry Rooney (’25-‘26) during the two years of Mainieri/Lee.
It’s a similar story with South Carolina’s recruiting coordinators, which changed from Trip Couch to Chad Caillet to Lee to Rooney in a matter of six years.
“Obviously, we really struggled over the last two years,” Donati said. “But, over longer than the last two years, we’ve been inconsistent in a lot of different ways. ... So finding someone who can really implement a vision to help us stabilize that, I think is the biggest thing.”
Who will that be? Time will tell, but the Gamecocks have a bucket of candidates to select from.
“This is a national search,” Donati said, “and we’ve got a really good set of coaches who have been successful at very high levels.”
