South Carolina moving towards hiring Paul Mainieri as next baseball coach
South Carolina athletics director Ray Tanner is targeting former LSU skipper Paul Mainieri in his search for the program's next baseball coach.
Huge report: USC targeting Mainieri
- Thread starter 18IsTheMan
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Reminds me of our hiring Holtz and Spurrier. Good coach but, a short-term move. Not my preference. I'm not a "day-trader".
And drawing SS……
(Edit: it’s a joke, for those who have too much starch in they draws. 
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Looks to me that Tanner is getting lazy in making such a hire. He is too scared to make a hire that potentially would be long-term. The sooner he takes the exit ramp to Hilton Head, the better.And drawing SS……
Could work. Get the program to “respectable” in 2-3 years and hand it over to a new guy. I dunno anymore…
Paul Diesel would be more apropos but I get what you are saying. Definitely short term but it will be the last baseball coach Tanner will have to hire.....
You think maybe he's consulting with Manieri on who to hire?
Too many people in southern Beaufort County already.
Believing he has “insiders” is crazy. Never saw a lazy recruiter win a National championship btw.
All in all, it doesn't really bother me. As I said above, he is a "good coach". His record says that. The only thing that bothers me is that we could be doing this all over again in a few years. Then again, look at St. John's men's basketball. They hired legendary national champion coach Rick Pitino last year. He had a respectable first season this past season and turns 72 in a few months. Mainieri could be his little kid brother.
Not the hire I was expecting but this is not a rebuild. Its not like a Shane Beamer project; or Lou Holtz. I am warming up to the idea that with solid assistants, you can bring in the guys in the portal and keep what you have you are in the mix next year. Maybe our new coach won't bunt ahead of Messina to move a runner to 2nd leaving first open. I'm sure every other hire would have backlash but at least this guy has been there and understands what it takes.
Across the board, almost every major baseball writer/publication, including Baseball America and D1 Baseball plus others, consider this to be a “home run” hire.
Mainieri excites me more than the WF or Duke coach's and if he puts a good staff together and keeps Monte I think it's a great move by Tanner. A lot of you guys wanted experience and to get away from analytics, well this may be your answer!
It's only short-term so the staff and what's to follow him is the key to making this work in the long run.
No doubt he is an excellent coach. He retired due to health reasons 3 years ago. Has his health improved with age at 67?
If RT is hiring Mainieri to ''right the ship'' the plan/staff to replace the ''captain'' when he does leaves is extremely critical and has hopefully been well thought out.
Spurrier righted our ship...but toward the end…he gave out of gas…and it almost sank.
I am not so sure about that. Baseball recruiting has to compete against MLB also. Plus the scholarship limits on baseball can be challenging. It's not as large of a recruiting staff to spread to work around either. I think both have a great deal of challenges. And the portal just adds to it in both sports.
Looks to be a great hire and staff. I like his comments and focus.
Mainieri also announced the retention of associate head coach/hitting coach Monte Lee and the additions of pitching coach/recruiting coordinator Terry Rooney and assistant coach John Hendry.
"We have a super coaching staff in place," Mainieri said. "I feel great and energized, I can't wait to get started working with the players, and let's get this University of South Carolina baseball program back to where it belongs - in Omaha and in the College World Series."
Mainieri also announced the retention of associate head coach/hitting coach Monte Lee and the additions of pitching coach/recruiting coordinator Terry Rooney and assistant coach John Hendry.
"We have a super coaching staff in place," Mainieri said. "I feel great and energized, I can't wait to get started working with the players, and let's get this University of South Carolina baseball program back to where it belongs - in Omaha and in the College World Series."
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