South Carolina baseball has its new head coach. After reports surfaced on Monday that shocked the college baseball world by revealing Paul Mainieri was the top candidate for the job, athletic director Ray Tanner moved quickly. On Tuesday, Mainieri officially was hired, and by the end of the day, his whole coaching staff was known.
His introductory press conference was on Thursday, and there was plenty to latch onto for the Gamecock Faithful.
Mainieri seemed to make a point to identify most of the major issues the program has had in recent years. He said that his Gamecock teams will "play defense," will "have the discipline," will "take pride in base running," and will "handle the pressure situations a little bit better." He also attacked the mediocrity that has plagued the team by saying, "I didn't come here to lose, I didn't come here to be mediocre...Carolina baseball represents excellence...We're going to win."
In terms of coaching duties, Mainieri will handle coaching the infielders, himself. Associate head coach and hitting coach Monte Lee will coach outfielders. Catcher defensive coaching has yet to be divvied up amongst the staff. All things pitching, including pitching defense, will fall to pitching coach Terry Rooney, and assistant coach John Hendry will assist him. All the coaches will help with discipline, the team's overall philosophy, and base running.
Mainieri also said that he thinks a blend of the analytic approach and the old-school "gut" feeling will be how he coaches. His teams will take advantage of analytic data, but only if the results are there. He also added, "I'm not big on 'Oh, we're going to walk more than anyone else,'" addressing one of the fanbases' biggest offensive approach concerns from the Mark Kingston era.
His coaching tree is impressive, and Mainieri made sure to remind the press in attendance that Cliff Godwin (head coach at East Carolina) and Brian O'Connor (head coach at Virginia) were once assistants of his. Both men were considered candidates for the Carolina job by some in the media.
Mainieri made it very plain that Ray Tanner was the reason he took the job. Working under another legendary coach meant a lot to him as he weighed his options. He also tried to ease fans' worries about his age and health, saying that he feels like he did when he was 40, explicitly saying that the neck/back issues he suffered through at LSU were a thing of the past.
The new head coach let the public in on what seemed like one of the world's worst-kept secrets: if things go well, Monte Lee could be considered the coach in waiting. Coach Mainieri made it clear that he thinks highly of Lee and that he hopes he takes over the job when he retires: "I don't know how much longer I'm going to coach...but I hope that we're going to do well enough that Monte will be ready to take over when I finish. That's how I feel about it."
However, perhaps the most memorable moment of Mainieri's press conference for South Carolina baseball fans was a not-at-all-veiled shot at the rival Clemson Tigers.
Coach Mainieri, while talking about his excitement for his new coaching opportunity, quipped "Being in the Midlands is a lot better than being Upstate, I know that."
If everything else Mainieri said in the press conference didn't get South Carolina baseball fans fired up for their new head coach, clowning on the Tigers got the job done.
You can watch the entire introductory press conference below.