Monte Lee ranked second-best assistant hire this offseason by D1Baseball
South Carolina’s lone assistant hire of the offseason is receiving some quality national publicity.
D1Baseball ranked its top 30 assistant coach hires of the offseason and Monte Lee checks in as the second-best assistant hire in the country and the best hitting coach hire.
He’s second only to Wes Johnson, who comes over from the Minnesota Twins to be LSU’s pitching coach.
Lee had some interest from other programs throughout the summer, but was headed to pro ball had Mark Kingston and South Carolina not come calling,” D1Baseball’s Kendall Rogers wrote.
“Lee proved during his time at Charleston he could be a terrific head coach, and he established himself as a premier assistant during a previous stint at South Carolina, where he was a chief architect, recruiting-wise, to those two national title teams.
He’s in his second tenure with the Gamecocks after serving as an assistant under Ray Tanner from 2003 to 2008.
From there he got the head coach job at College of Charleston. He went 276-145 in his time there with three NCAA Tournament appearances and one Super Regional berth.
He spent the next seven seasons, six full years, at Clemson where he led the Tigers to four postseasons in his first four years. Over that span, the Tigers had three top-16 seeds and were a national seed once.
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Clemson struggled after that, going 14-3 in the COVID-shortened season before missing the NCAA Tournament the next two years.
The Tigers went 60-50 in Lee’s final two years while managing a 29-36 mark the ACC.
He comes now to South Carolina where he’ll serve as the Gamecocks’ associate head coach and recruiting coordinator. In his role he’ll be in charge of South Carolina’s recruiting efforts.
On the field, Lee will also work with the hitters and help defensively with the outfielders and wherever else he’s needed.
As a former head coach, he’ll also assist head coach Mark Kingston with whatever he needs.
“Anything I can help him with, I’m going to help him with. Maybe even more importantly, what can I take off his plate? As the head coach, you have to wear many different hats. In this role as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator I don’t have to wear as many hats as the head coach,” Lee said.
“I can concentrate on developing the players here and recruiting. If there are things Mark needs me to do to take off his plate, I can do that. I have the experience of being a head coach.”
South Carolina began skill work Monday with Lee on the field. Fall scrimmages will begin in late September.
