Paul Mainieri: 'I hope we're going to do well enough' that Monte Lee takes over at South Carolina

After South Carolina opted to move on from Mark Kingston, Ray Tanner had a decision to make. He could promote Monte Lee – who served as the interim after the coaching change – or make a splash with an outside hire.

Tanner chose the latter, hiring former LSU coach Paul Mainieri out of retirement to take over the program. That meant Lee didn’t get the full-time job. But Mainieri had conversations with Tanner about him, and he learned they shared similar thoughts when it came to coaching.

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Then, Mainieri had an idea. He wanted to keep Lee on board, and he was successful. But at 66 years old, Mainieri understands he might not have too much time left in his coaching career. By keeping Lee in Columbia – he got a hefty pay raise to do so and will no longer serve as recruiting coordinator – there could effectively be a succession plan in place.

“I had total respect for the work that he’s done as the interim head coach,” Mainieri said of Lee during his introductory press conference. “He’s basically kept the team together, and he’s given me great input on each of the players. He’s going to continue to be a tremendous part of Carolina baseball, and I’m really happy and proud that he stayed on with us. And let it be told. I don’t know how much longer I’m going to coach – and I’m sure that question is going to come – but I hope that we’re going to do well enough that Monte will be ready to take over when I finish. That’s how I feel about it.”

Lee spent the last two seasons as Kingston’s assistant head coach and recruiting coordinator – his second stint with the Gamecocks after previously serving as an assistant from 2003-08. His return to Columbia after seven years as the head coach at Clemson, where he amassed a 242-136 overall record and took the program to an ACC title in his first season at the helm in 2016.

Throughout their careers, Paul Mainieri said he and Lee had a couple run-ins, but never formally got to know each other. When the South Carolina opportunity came about, though, Tanner brought Lee’s name up given their relationship. That gave Mainieri some insight into how Lee operates and led to him to keep the veteran coach on board.

“First of all, when Ray and I first talked about this job, Ray talked to me about Monte Lee,” Mainieri said. “Now, I didn’t know Monte that well. We’d had a couple of dealings with each other when he was the coach at Clemson. … When he was the coach there, we had a couple of things to discuss, but I couldn’t fib about this and say I really knew Monte. But Ray knows Monte really well. He obviously coached against him, then he was part of his coaching staff. And then they’ve remained very close. Ray has been a real mentor for Monte and has been a big influence on his life, so he knows him well. So I deferred to him to tell me about Monte and why is this so important? And he explained it.

“As I thought about it, and as Ray was explaining it to me – and then, I slept on it before I gave Ray my answer – I was absolutely convinced Ray was exactly right. And I knew that Ray was a really good judge of people and talent and so forth.”

Paul Mainieri saw ‘a connection’ with Monte Lee

After he spoke with Ray Tanner, Paul Mainieri sat down with Monte Lee given the situation. There was a sense he could get promoted after taking over as interim head coach, and when he didn’t, it could’ve led to disappointment.

That’s part of the reason Mainieri wanted to talk with Lee, and the topic came up. What followed was a couple hours of talking ball, and the connection was apparent.

“Monte and I ended up having a conversation because obviously, there’s gonna be a little bit of disappointment that he didn’t get this position,” Mainieri said. “And I knew that he also had an opportunity to become a head coach at another school. He’s been a head coach for 14 years, and a very successful one. But I wanted him to be a part of our coaching staff because of everything that Ray had told me about him. Then, we had a conversation that probably lasted two hours, or more, and it was amazing because it was a very blunt and honest conversation on both sides. And that’s the way I deal with people, in a very honest way and very forthright.

“As the conversation continued to morph, I could see that there was a connection there. And as we started talking about things like philosophy of the game and coaching and hitting and fielding and pitching and everything else, it was amazing to me how aligned both of us were in our beliefs about how to do things.”