The South Carolina Gamecock baseball team had a down season in 2026, ending with a season-low 35 losses, and an 18-game losing streak. Former Gamecocks head coach Paul Mainieri resigned early in the season, and interim head coach Monte Lee was dismissed by South Carolina, signifying a fresh start in Columbia, starting with the head coach.
Amid reports that South Carolina is expected to choose between two candidates as their next head coach in West Virginia's Steve Sabins and Coastal Carolina's Kevin Schnall, one of those names just became fully available to South Carolina athletic director Jeremiah Donati.
The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, coached by Schnall, were eliminated by Florida State on Sunday in the Tallahassee Regional hosted by the Seminoles, losing 2-1 in the regional final.
Schnall is one of the first calls that Donati should make in his search for the Gamecocks' next head coach. Schnall is currently in his second season as the Chanticleers' head coach, leading Coastal to a CWS runner-up season just last year.
Previously, Schnall was an assistant at Coastal under longtime Chanticleers head coach Gary Gilmore. He spent three seasons at UCF as an assistant from 2013-15 before returning back to Coastal as the associate head coach in 2016. He was named Coastal's new head coach after Gilmore retired. Sure, Coastal losing to FSU is disappointing, but it was still an impressive 37-13 finish for the Chanticleers on the season.
Sabins WVU team, meanwhile, has his program set to take on Kentucky in the Regional Final on Monday. Obviously if Donati is set on Schnall, the longtime fixture at Coastal Carolina could make the move to South Carolina.
Although Coach Schnall has helped bring uprecedented success for a smaller, non-power baseball progam, South Carolina has the talent and resources that just aren't the same at Coastal.
While WVU still playing in an NCAA Regional, it makes the timeline interesting for Donati, who has to compete with both Sabins still actively coaching if the Mountaineers make it to a Super Regional or College World Series. He wil also have to compete with Coastal, who could lure Schnall with a lucrative new contract extension.
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