On Thursday, after a Board of Trustees meeting at South Carolina, Paul Mainieri is officially announced as the new skipper for Gamecocks Baseball. The former national champion head coach is looking forward to working with the team and
"This is a wonderful opportunity to coach at a prestigious and tradition rich college baseball program," Mainieri said. "I coached and competed against Ray Tanner for years and always had the greatest respect for him and the USC program." With his guys in place, Mainieri plans to get South Carolina back to it's rightful place within college baseball.
"We have a super coaching staff in place, I feel great and energized, I can't wait to get started working with the players," Mainieri said. "Let's get this University of South Carolina baseball program back to where it belongs, in Omaha and in the College World Series.
Shortly after Mainieri was announced, his staff was brought together. Monte Lee was retained from the previous staff and will continue in his role of associate head coach/hitting coach. Terry Rooney heads over from Baton Rouge to join the staff as a pitching coach/recruiting coordinator. Rooney previously worked with Mainieri and even helped land the #1 recruiting class in 2009 at LSU.