The NCAA has relaxed a few restricting rules in college baseball recently (not enough of them, though), and one result is that programs will be allowed to have a third full-time paid assistant coach. South Carolina baseball already has associate head coach Monte Lee and new pitching coach Matt Williams, and it appears as if head coach Mark Kingston has his man for the third job.
According to SportsTalk’s Phil Kornblut, the Gamecocks will be hiring former Campbell assistant Joey Holcomb to be their third full-time paid assistant coach. The news has since been confirmed by both GamecockCentral’s Collyn Taylor and TheBigSpur’s John Whittle.
Holcomb worked with the offense at Campbell, and the Fighting Camels were one of the best hitting teams in the country during the 2023 campaign. Holcomb’s two years in Buies Creek, North Carolina saw his squad hit for a very impressive team OPS of .980. That number is over 70 points higher than the Gamecocks’ offense output in 2023.
Holcomb is no stranger to South Carolina baseball and Founders Park, as the Camels were the 2-seed in this year’s Columbia regional and were unceremoniously eliminated by the Gamecocks by a score of 16-7. Those seven runs, however, showed the prowess of Holcomb’s offense as it was the highest total surrendered by Carolina pitching in the NCAA Tournament.
Prior to his time at Campbell, Holcomb worked for two seasons at NC State and seven seasons at UNC-Greensboro. He has primarily worked with hitters and in recruiting during his coaching career.
Holcomb’s contract details with the University of South Carolina are not known and might not be known for a while. New pitching coach Matt Williams still has not had his contract finalized.
In fact, nothing can be finalized for Holcomb’s hire until at least July 1st when the third assistant rule officially is in place.
It is unclear at this time what this hire will mean for former Gamecock second baseman and current volunteer assistant coach Scott Wingo. The third full-time, on-field assistant is technically a conversion from the old volunteer assistant position, the position Wingo has held the past two seasons.