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by WILL FOLKS
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The University of South Carolina’s once-proud baseball program is limping into its annual rivalry with Clemson this weekend – having dropped a trio of games to uninspiring opponents.
Embattled head coach Paul Mainieri‘s team is 6-3 heading into this weekend’s series with the No. 11 Tigers, who are currently undefeated (8-0) and coming off their third consecutive NCAA tournament appearance in 2025.
South Carolina’s three losses have all come at home against minor conference opponents – Northern Kentucky, Army and, most recently, Queens. The latter loss was especially stinging seeing as Queens had never defeated a power four program in its history – and considering the Royals posted an atrocious 9-44 (.170) record last season.
“Queens College had never beaten a power four team, until they defeated South Carolina,” Fox reporter Trey Wallace noted. “This critical season for the Gamecocks has already seen them lose to Army, Northern Kentucky and the Royals. Things are not well in Columbia with Paul Mainieri.”
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That’s an understatement…
The Gamecocks’ inauspicious start comes after Mainieri’s first team posted a disappointing 28-29 (.491) record last year – including an abysmal 6-24 (.200) conference record and losses in eight of the Gamecocks’ final ten games. South Carolina was also swept for the second consecutive season by Clemson last March.
Mainieri is now 34-31(.523) since taking the reins of the Gamecock program.
Fans accustomed to the glory days of Gamecock baseball have seen enough – and are urging South Carolina athletics director Jeremiah Donati to end the Mainieri experiment.
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?BREAKING NEWS?
— Gamecock Sin (@Sinderella_SC) February 26, 2026
There is a "Fire Paul Mainieri" protest outside of Founder's Park! They are demanding @JDonati_SC to fix the program right now! pic.twitter.com/NTH8h01E2Z
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Meanwhile, conference watchers are openly speculating as to whether Mainieri’s job is on the line during this weekend’s Clemson series.
Mainieri was hired by former Gamecock athletics director Ray Tanner in June of 2024 – just three months before Tanner announced he was stepping down from his role. At the time of his hiring, he vowed to “get this University of South Carolina baseball program back to where it belongs – in Omaha and in the College World Series.”
Despite being out of the game for three years, Mainieri had an impressive résumé. In four coaching stops spanning thirty-nine seasons prior to coming to South Carolina, he had won 1,505 games – ranking him No. 8 all-time among NCAA coaches and tops among active coaches. His teams reached the College World Series (CWS) six times, with LSU winning the national title in 2009 and finishing second in 2017.
That success has simply not transferred to South Carolina.
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As for Tanner, he was the greatest baseball coach in Gamecock history – winning national championships in 2010 and 2011 – but his thirteen-and-a-half years running the athletics department from 2012-2024 were downright disastrous.
So far, Mainieri’s hiring ranks among his worst decisions – which is saying something.
Mainieri received a five-year, $6.5 million contract a year-and-a-half ago – while Tanner was given a four-year, $3.7 million deal as “athletics director emeritus” upon his retirement. Should South Carolina decide to fire Mainieri at any point during the first three years of his contract, he would be owed the full dollar amount of the deal.
As of this writing, that’s more than $5 million – with buyouts for assistant coaches adding an estimated $2 million to the tab, in the event Donati decides the time has come to move on from the veteran coach.
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The Mainieri disaster comes on the heels of two similarly unimpressive selections by Tanner. Former head coach Mark Kingston was bounced following the 2024 season after the Gamecocks lost in the NCAA regional round. Kingston posted a 216-155 (.583) mark through seven seasons in Columbia, S.C. Prior to Kingston, Tanner’s hand picked protégé Chad Holbrook posted a 200-106 (.654) record in five seasons at the helm of the program.
South Carolina hasn’t been to the CWS since 2012 – Tanner’s final year as head coach. After fifteen consecutive NCAA appearances from 2000-2014, the Gamecocks have failed to qualify for the postseason in three of the last five seasons (not counting the 2020 campaign, which was cut short due to fear surrounding the coronavirus).
Tanner has also saddled Donati with questionable hires in its football and men’s basketball programs.
On the gridiron, Tanner’s first hire – former Florida coach Will Muschamp – posted a 28-30 (.482) record from 2016-2020, including a 17-22 (.436) mark against SEC opponents and a 3-15 (.166) record against ranked foes.
Not only was Muschamp a terrible hire, but Tanner and the university board botched his buyout.
Muschamp’s replacement, Shane Beamer, has posted a similarly unimpressive 33-30 (.524) record through his first five seasons – including a 16-24 (.400) mark against SEC foes and a 7-21 (.250) record against ranked opponents.
We called on South Carolina to move on from Beamer last November… but Donati decided to give him another year at the helm to turn things around. Beamer’s current buyout is nearly $28 million – the 24th-costliest in all of college football.
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RELATED | GAMECOCK BASKETBALL IN FREE FALL
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Tanner also saddled Donati with fourth-year men’s basketball coach Lamont Paris, whose 2023-2024 team reached the NCAA tournament (South Carolina’s first appearance in eight years) but who is now presiding over a program in free fall.
Paris received a six-year, $26 million contract extension in March of 2024 from Tanner and the university board. His current buyout is an estimated $12 million. Since receiving his new deal from Tanner, he has gone 24-36 (.400) – including a 5-28 (.151) record against SEC opponents.
Tanner can certainly be credited for keeping Dawn Staley happy at the helm of the women’s basketball program, but perennial title contention has come at a steep financial loss for the department.
Needless to say, Donati has numerous difficult decisions confronting him – none of which present easy answers given the financial obligations Tanner has imposed upon him.
He can pay through the nose to get rid of underperforming assets – or continue paying the price associated with keeping them around.
For those of you wanting to tune in to see the status of things for yourself, this weekend’s rivalry series on the diamond begins tomorrow evening (Friday, February 27, 2026) at Founders Park in downtown Columbia, S.C. First pitch in the series opener is set for 7:00 p.m. EST. The series will move across town to Segra Park – home of the Columbia Fireflies – for a 3:00 p.m. EST start on Saturday (February 28), while the final game of the series will be held on Sunday afternoon (March 1) at 3:00 p.m. EST at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson.
The first game of the series will be carried by the SEC Network, while the ACC Network will broadcast the final two games.
Keep it tuned to FITSNews as we continue tracking the (mostly downward) trajectory of the Gamecock athletics department.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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5 comments
Wow, Army is an “uninspiring opponent”? Poor choice of words, I think.
The Gamecock men’s Basketball team is Worse!!
Well at least Queens is a legendary program and is considered elite, said no one ever!
There is nothing more exhausting than being a Gamecock
7 -Zip Cocks! You rethinking this one?