Former South Carolina baseball coach gets new job in-state

Since new South Carolina baseball coach Paul Mainieri was hired last week, the newest Gamecock headman and athletics director Ray Tanner have worked together to build an elite coaching staff in Columbia.

Associate head coach/hitting coach Monte Lee is being retained in the same positions, and Mainieri has hired elite recruiter Terry Rooney to serve as the team's pitching coach and recruiting coordinator. John Hendry, a former Virginia Cavaliers assistant, is rounding out the staff and will assist Rooney with both pitching and recruiting duties.

With three new coaches coming in, that means three former South Carolina baseball coaches are no longer with the program. Early during the weekend, fired head coach Mark Kingston was hired to lead the Creighton Blue Jays program, and assistant coach Joey Holcomb has been brought on in an undisclosed assistant role for the South Florida Bulls.

On Sunday evening, the final on-field coach from the 2024 Gamecocks found a new job for 2025.

According to a report from D1Baseball's Kendall Rogers, former Gamecock pitching coach Matt Williams will be the next pitching coach for the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.

Williams spent just one year in Columbia after taking over for Justin Parker who took a considerable raise to move over to the Mississippi State Bulldogs' pitching coach position. Staying in the Palmetto State makes sense for Williams as he is a South Carolina native and has spent 14 of his 19 years coaching in the Carolinas, 9 of them in South Carolina native.

Williams is a good pitching coach, but things didn't work out well in his one year in garnet and black. Injuries and a lack of recruiting in recent seasons doomed the USC pitching staff.

Even so, Williams led a group that saw tremendous improvements from starter Dylan Eskew and reliever Garrett Gainey and another strong season from reliever Chris Veach. Freshmen like Parker Marlatt, Eddie Cooper (before he got hurt), and Tyler Pitzer showed some real promise under their pitching coach, as well.

Rooney, Williams' replacement, will have several impact pitchers return next season and a few new faces from the transfer portal and high school ranks who will help out, but he still will need to retool the staff a bit if the Gamecocks hope to compete in 2025.