Paul Mainieri, one of the greatest coaches in LSU baseball history, is expected to return to the Southeastern Conference as the head coach of South Carolina, according to multiple reports.
Mainieri was the head coach of the Tigers from 2007 to 2021, and during that time he led LSU to 929 total wins, second in the program’s history, and the 2009 national championship.
Under Mainieri, LSU appeared in the College World Series five times, were SEC regular season champions four times and won the SEC Tournament six times.
Mainieri will now unretire to take the job as the head coach of the Gamecocks, as they recently dismissed former coach Mark Kingston.
South Carolina didn’t advance past the super regionals during Kingston’s seven years and had a winning record in the SEC in just three of them.
This past year, South Carolina had a 37-25 record and narrowly qualified for the NCAA Tournament, where they were eliminated with a 1-2 record in the Raleigh regional.
In Mainieri’s final four years following LSU’s 2017 appearance in the national championship, where it lost in a three-game series to Florida despite winning the first game, the Tigers never advanced past the super regional round.
Mainieri announced his retirement toward the end of the 2021 season, though he continued to coach the Tigers as they won the Eugene regional and competed in the super regionals against Tennessee.
There, LSU lost both games of the best-of-three series, and Mainieri’s coaching career seemingly ended.
The decision to retire was an emotional decision that factored in Mainieri’s own health issues and LSU’s relative lack of success, with Mainieri saying a new leader was needed for the program.
To replace him, LSU chose then-Arizona coach Jay Johnson, who has since led the program to a national championship and has now completed his third year with the program.
Since retiring, Mainieri has been rumored as a candidate for the Miami opening last offseason and the job at Notre Dame in the 2022 offseason.
Before coaching for LSU, Mainieri coached for six years at St. Thomas University, six years at Air Force and 12 years at Notre Dame.
