Ray Tanner talks baseball coaching search process and what makes Paul Mainieri the right hire

Ray Tanner was quick with how he went about his business. He saw what needed to be done and did it by firing Mark Kingston less than 24 hours after the 2024 season came to an end.

But that was only one side of the coin. Now, he needed to conduct a search to find the next head baseball coach, something he struggled with two other times in the last 12 years.

He had his list of candidates. He went through the process of speaking to multiple well-established head coaches. But ultimately, he wanted to go with someone he knew he could trust to turn this thing around as quick as possible.

That’s when he gave Paul Mainieri, who had been out of the game for the last three years, a call. Tanner had always admired the way he coached when he went up against him when the two were at South Carolina and LSU, respectively.

“I always thought that I can manage a game. And I always felt that that was one of my strengths: in-game management. And he was that guy that difficult to outthink, outsmart. I’d see him across the way and his wheels were spinning. My wheels were spinning and I was thinking three hitters ahead. I was thinking defense, I was thinking, positioning, pitching changing, bullpen,” Tanner said.

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“And it seemed like any move I made, he countered, and I would try it. He’s a gamer. And you heard him talking about putting people in the right place. It was like he’s the magician at that. Like he makes a move out of the bullpen, the guy comes in and throws strikes and gets a ground ball. He was hard to match wits with. So we’ve got technology, we’ve got all those things. He’s going to coach and then he’s gonna be difficult to match wits with. So in-game management is certainly a big strength of his.”

When Tanner asked Mainieri if he still had any interest in returning to coaching, the conversation heated up. And eventually, Mainieri obliged and became the 31st head coach in program history a few days later.

To be able to get this done, Tanner had to open the checkbook, something many within the fan base were worried might not happen. How much of an investment would South Carolina be willing to put into a sport like baseball?

Fortunately, the money didn’t seem to be an issue. Mainieri will make $1.3 million annually over the next five years, while Monte Lee and Terry Rooney will combine to make another million, meaning nearly $2.3 million will have been spent on the coaching staff alone.

While Tanner wouldn’t specify if he had any financial restrictions when it came to making his hires, he did say he always had the support of the administration.

“I have a wonderful president in Dr. (Michael) Amiridis. He probably gives me more time than he should. I mean, he’s running a university, and I’m just one component,” Tanner said. “But he always takes the time to visit with me when I make a request. So I know he’s busy and I try to be careful with my times that I take from him. But he’s great. Our chairman, Thad Westbrook, and the Board of Trustees, have had very similar conversations, and they want us to win at a high level, regardless of the sport. And so, I constantly have dialogue, communication, and they’ve been tremendously supportive of what we need to do.”

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When it comes to Mainieri, he checks off nearly every box you could think of. He’s not just the winningest head coach in college baseball right now, he’s also a proven champion. But as usual, there’s always going to be some who are more skeptical than others.

To that, Tanner said Mainieri is in win-now mode and not looking to go into a rebuild.

“I think with some of the coaches, like we hired Coach (Lamont) Paris, and some people weren’t very excited about it. And I was okay with it. I understand. They were a little more excited this year than the year before,” he said. “But when it came to baseball, and where we are right now, he mentioned we won 37 games. We probably should’ve won a couple more games in the tournament, potentially, we were in a position to win.

“We’ve got a pretty good nucleus. We’ve got some guys back. That’s exciting. And that means a lot to me and our fan base. They want that more than anything else.”

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