What Mark Kingston's seen from new assistants, more on Scott Wingo's role

While there is a good amount of returning production and familiar faces for South Carolina baseball, there is some newness around the program. 

The Gamecocks brought in double-digit portal prospects and a hefty high school recruiting class along with two new coaches who have already started to make an impact in Matt Williams and Joey Holcomb. 

Both are in their first years with the program. And head coach Mark Kingston has seen each hit the ground running. 

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“It’s been a very seamless transition. They were both brought here cause they were proven talent developers at the highest level. Both have had tremendous success,” Kingston said.

“I liked Matt Williams’ success not only in college and having some of the best staffs in the country but his experience with the San Diego Padres. Joey is known as one of the best-hitting developers in the country. Him combined with Monte (Lee) I thought could be a great combination. Their transitions here have been very, very smooth.” 

Williams takes over as the South Carolina pitching coach, coming in for Justin Parker who’s now at Mississippi State.

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He spent the last four years (three full seasons) with Liberty. There he turned the Flames into one of the better pitching units in the A-Sun. They had a 4.39 ERA and 1.41 WHIP during his time there.

Williams was part of a UNC-W program where he built that pitching staff into a formidable unit with a 4.19 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP in five seasons there.

Kingston hasn’t seen him obviously call a game yet from the South Carolina dugout. But players have had good things to say about him so far.

“We had a really good pitching coach before and we have a really good pitching coach now. I think it’s too early to tell what are his strengths. But I do know I’ve been getting a lot of really positive reviews from our pitchers about what they’re doing, about how they’re going about their business and about their daily program. I think it’s too early to tell what the major strengths are with Matt,” Kingston said.

“But again he was hired because he has a tremendous reputation among college coaches and among professional scouts. The stats from his pitching stats over the years are proven. I’m anxious to continue to see the growth between him and our pitchers.”

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Holcomb’s had stops at UNC-G where he helped build the Spartans offense into a better one in their conference under Link Jarrett. He was also on staff at NC State during the Wolfpacks’ College World Series run in 2021. 

He spent the last two seasons at Campbell where the Camels have won two Big South titles. They’ve slashed .309/.425/.555 with 241 home runs and 110 runs scored. 

South Carolina lists Holcomb as the assistant recruiting coordinator and assistant hitting coach working with Monte Lee. 

With Holcomb with the Gamecocks as the third paid assistant, it means Scott Wingos’ role as an on-field coach shifts. Kingston said Wingo will now be the Director of Program Development. And he’ll still have a way to impact the program off the field. 

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“We’re going to try and use him as much as he’s willing to do with alumni relations and community involvement and things of that nature. He’s a very important part of this program,” Kingston said. 

“When they eliminated the volunteer coach and made it a full-time position, we decided to make that a very recruiting-heavy position. We felt like the best thing with our program was to bring Jeoy in with his vast recruiting experience. We wanted to keep Scott as part of the program as much as we could and as much as he’s willing.” 

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