Paul Mainieri: 'The reason that I came here is because of Ray Tanner

Ray Tanner gave Paul Mainieri the confidence he needed to accept the head baseball coaching position at South Carolina. Tanner, the Gamecocks athletic director, was previously their baseball coach from 1997-2012.

He faced off against Mainieri several times when the latter was the head coach at LSU from 2007-2021. Now the two will team up as they hope to turn around a South Carolina team that let go of Mark Kingston following a 37-26 finish this season.

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Mainieri made his first appearance in as the Gamecocks coach in a press conference on Thursday, where he opened up on the factor that his relationship with Tanner played in him accepting the job.

“The reason that I came here is because of Ray Tanner,” he said. “What an awesome opportunity for a college baseball coach to have as his boss a good friend, one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game and a tremendous administrator. The way I look at this opportunity is just like that. It’s an opportunity and a privilege. It’s not anything I will ever take for granted. I appreciate the confidence that Ray has shown in me to make me the coach here at Carolina.”

Mainieri has compiled a 641-283-3 record as the coach at LSU and led the Tigers to a College World Series championship in 2009. He led them to five CWS appearances in his 15 seasons at the helm. Prior to joining LSU, Mainieri was the coach at Notre Dame and took the Fighting Irish to Omaha in 2002.

South Carolina had advanced to the NCAA Tournament in three of the past four seasons under Kingston but never made it past the second round. The Gamecocks have not been to the College World Series since 2012, the last season that Tanner was the coach. They lost in Regional play to host NC State this season.

Now as the Gamecocks hope to restore the success that they had when Tanner was the coach so many years ago, they’ll do so with one of the better coaches in recent SEC history. Instead of having to face off against Paul Mainieri, South Carolina now finds him on their side as he works in tandem with Tanner to get the team back to competing for titles.