What Paul Mainieri, Ray Tanner said at baseball introductory press conference

On Thursday, South Carolina officially introduced Paul Mainieri as the next head baseball coach of the Gamecocks.

Below is a quick summary of what both Mainieri and Director of Athletics Ray Tanner had to say.

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Ray Tanner

– Ray Tanner opens up the press conference by sharing that Mainieri will be the 31st head coach in program history. He’s also the active leader in all of D1 baseball for wins.

– Tanner rattles off the long, and impressive, resume of Mainieri. The biggest takeaway, which won’t surprise those who know his background, he’s a winner. Multiple SEC regular season and SEC postseason titles to go along with a 2009 national title.

– His late father won over 1,000 career games. Paul and his father are the only father-son duo in the American Baseball Hall of Fame

– Tanner said as he was going through the hiring process he reached out to Mainieri to pick his brain about some of the candidates had. While talking with him, he also knew that last year there were programs who talked to him about their openings. That’s when he asked him if he’d be interested in USC’s opening.

Paul Mainieri

– Mainieri opens up by correcting Tanner that he wasn’t the one who won those games but rather it was his players. Goes on to say that he’s not in it for the money, the records, or himself. He’s in it to help his players grow, both as a player and as a person.

– Adds not to get confused, he likes to win. He hates to lose more than he likes to win but they’ll do it in the rules in a way that will make South Carolina proud.

– “Being in the Midlands is a lot better than being Upstate, I know that.”

– Mainieri shares how grateful he was for his time coaching at Air Force. Makes you appreciate how lucky you are to play this game because of the sacrifice those make. That’s something that h’es carried with him throughout his coaching career.

– Says that some of the biggest advice he’s given his players over the years is not to be afraid of the big moment and to attack. Said it was about time to take his own advice when looking at this job.

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– Mentions that his age is just a number and that he feels like he’s in his 40s again because of how excited he is to be. Mentions how excited he is to meet Dawn Staley, Shane Beamer, Lamont Paris, and the other Gamecock coaches

– Shares how grateful he’s been for his family. Thanks his wife while saying with a chuckle, “we’ve only been married for 44 years.” Calls her the backbone of their family

– Going on about his children and how proud he is of them. Mentions that his son Tommy and named after his Godfather Tommy Lasorda

– Says they’re gonna give effort and represent South Carolina and that uniform the right way. The only goal he has for his players is to be the best version of themselves they can be

– Multiple USC players including Whit Merrifield and Adrian Morales have already reached out to him

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– During his talk with Ray Tanner, he didn’t know Monte Lee but knew of him. Mainieri deferred to Ray as to why it would be important to keep Monte on staff. He slept on it before talking with Monte to let him know that he wanted him to be part of his coaching staff. Said the conversation lasted more than two hours. It was very blunt and honest and Mainieri could tell quickly how similar they are with their vision.

– He doesn’t know how long he’ll be coaching for but mentions that they do a good enough job so that when that time comes Monte Lee can be that next head coach

– Mainieri jokes “what’s that” when asked about the transfer portal and NIL. Goes on to say that in the days before the portal, Terry Rooney played a key role in helping them build programs in the past. Add in Monte Lee and his whole point is, he believes he has knowledge assistant coaches around him who can help them attack recruiting in this new era.

– Says he’s learned a lot about the portal/NIL through Lee and Rooney.

– Mainieri makes it clear that this program isn’t in the basement. They’re ready to go out there and compete

– Mainieri knows that fans here, like LSU, have high expectations. Says no wins every game but they’re gonna attack and get their nose bloodied. Expects fans will be critical because they pay for tickets and they want to win too. Adds that there’s only one thing worse than criticism and that’s apathy.

– Is he into using analytics? Yes, because he won’t be a dinosaur and because players in this generation are used to it but it’ll be a combination of feel.

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