The South Carolina baseball coaching search is heating up, and Gamecocks athletic director Jeremiah Donati has one of his most important hires to make.
According to one report, the AD is likely considering hiring two main candidates. Kendal Rogers of D1 baseball reported that South Carolina has two front runners, in current Coastal Carolina head coach Kevin Schnall and West Virginia head coach Steve Sabins. Rogers added that the two are expected to be the main candidates "barring a last-second surprise."
Schnall is currently in his second season as the Chanticleers' head coach, leading Coastal to a CWS runner-up season just last year. Coastal is coming off a shocking first-round loss to Northern Illinois on Friday, and will take on the host Florida State team in a win-or-go-home matchup on Saturday.
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.
Alongside Gilmore, Schnall led Coastal to 17 NCAA tournament appearances, including the Chanticleers' CWS championship in 2016. He said in an interview earlier this week that he has not spoken to anyone about the South Carolina job. Donati may just be waiting to see how Coastal's season shakes out before reaching out officially.
Steve Sabins has been the head coach at West Virginia since 2025, where he served as an assistant from 2016-24. His Mountaineers are 40-14 this season, and are hosting a regional. WVU took care of Binghamton 10-1 on Friday. Overall as a head coach for the Mountaineers, he is 84-30.
We'll see if Rogers' report proves correct in the coming days.
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