South Carolina Baseball: Gamecocks officially hire new coach

Yesterday, after several days of buildup, the South Carolina baseball program lost their pitching coach Justin Parker to the SEC rival Mississippi State Bulldogs. Parker was offered a raise larger than what South Carolina Athletics Director Ray Tanner viewed as feasible to match. News began to trickle out even before Parker officially left that the Gamecocks had his replacement in line.

On Tuesday, that replacement was officially hired. Matt Williams, a South Carolina native, was hired to become the next pitching coach at the University of South Carolina. Williams had been the pitching coach at Liberty since July of 2019 and, reportedly, was on the shortlist for Mark Kingston and Ray Tanner in 2021 when the Gamecocks ended up hiring Parker to replace Skylar Meade when the latter was hired to become the head coach at Troy.

Williams is viewed as a rising star in the baseball coaching ranks and is a tenacious recruiter. He had been promoted to associate head coach at Liberty in order to keep him in Lynchburg, Virginia a little while longer, but the call of his hometown program was too much to ignore.

Williams is expected to bring an in-state recruiting energy that has, at times, been missing during the Mark Kingston era of South Carolina baseball.

Williams played at Lancaster High School in South Carolina and then at junior college powerhouse Spartanburg Methodist College before getting into coaching.

After a very successful stint coaching at SMC, he served as the pitching coach at UNC-Wilmington for five seasons where he coached three different Seahawk pitchers to Colonial Athletic Association Conference Pitcher of the Year awards. Williams had a short stop with Major League Baseball’s San Diego Padres before heading to Liberty.

Recent South Carolina baseball incoming transfer Garrett Gainey (graduate senior left-handed pitcher) played for Williams at Liberty in 2022.