Mark Kingston shares lessons he learned as head coach at South Carolina

Former South Carolina coach Mark Kingston had mixed results during his time in Columbia. While his tenure didn’t end the way he hoped that it would, he did learn some valuable lessons that he will take with him to Creighton.

Kingston was officially announced as the head coach of the Bluejays on Monday. He spoke with the media on Tuesday and shared his takeaways from his time leading the Gamecocks program.

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“I’ve evolved over the seven years being at South Carolina. I’ve really evolved as a coach,” Mark Kingston said. “What I’ve learned through our players and really from my own kids as well – coaching and parenting are very similar.

“You’ve gotta know when to be tough on them. You’ve gotta know when to give them a hug. You’ve gotta know when they’re trying to pull one over on you. And you’ve gotta know when they just need a little bit of support to get over the hump in something.”

South Carolina finished with a 37-25 (13-17) record in 2024 and was swept in its final two series of the regular season.

Kingston and the Gamecocks did reach the NCAA Tournament, but they were unable to advance in the Raleigh Regional. He finished his time at South Carolina with a 217-155 record.

“The SEC is very competitive, as you might imagine,” Kingston said Tuesday. “There’s a lot of teams in your town [at the College World Series] right now from our league.” 

The 54-year-old Kingston came to South Carolina after previously being the head coach at Illinois State and South Florida. He led the Gamecocks to the NCAA Tournament four times in the six seasons that the NCAA Tournament occurred, advancing to a super regional twice.

As Kingston heads to Creighton, he feels like he knows what it will take to be successful in Omaha.

“I would say the seven years at South Carolina have really taught me how competitive every category needs to be in your program – the recruiting, the preparation, the scouting. All of those things have to be done at the absolute highest level to be able to keep up with the best of the best,” Mark Kingston said. “Whether it’s the Big East, whether it’s the ACC, the SEC, that doesn’t change. It’s kind of all relative. To be the best in your league, against similar-type programs, you’ve gotta have everything on lockdown.

“And so again, over the years here at South Carolina, but also at South Florida and also at Illinois State, spent a lot of time up there in the Midwest already, you’ve just got to have everything at as high a level as you possibly can. If you do that, you have a chance to have a really strong program.”