Paul Mainieri was officially welcomed Thursday afternoon to South Carolina baseball. Gamecocks Athletics Director Ray Tanner introduced Mainieri and his wife at a press conference held inside the Cockaboose Club at Williams-Brice Stadium. Mainieri, who last coached three seasons ago, received a five year contract which will pay him a base salary of $1.3 million per season.
Mainieri replaces Mark Kingston who was fired after seven years in Columbia. By returning to coaching, Mainieri moves to the top of the list as the winningest active coach in the college game with over 1500 victories, including a national championship at LSU in 2009.
Some key comments from Thursday’s press conference:
- Tanner: Said he called Mainieri to get some ideas on some candidates knowing his name had come up for jobs the last two years, and he then asked him about his interest, and he responded positively.
- Mainieri: Said a week ago he couldn’t imagine being the coach at USC, Tanner can still recruit, said he was born to coach, the son of a coach.
- Mainieri: He likes to win and makes no apologies about that, will always do it within the rules and with sportsmanship, and with players conducting and presenting themselves in a way that will make USC proud.
- Mainieri: The reason he came to South Carolina was Ray Tanner, a good friend, one of the great coaches in the history of the game and a great administrator. This is a privilege and something he’ll never take for granted.
- Mainieri: Will lean heavily on his coaching staff, Ray Tanner told him about Monte Lee, didn’t know Lee that well, he talked to Lee and wanted him to be a part of the staff, they had a very long conversation and they connected.
- Mainieri: Hopes Lee will replace him when he decides to retire.
- Mainieri: Hiring Terry Rooney to join him at South Carolina was a big part of his decision to take the job.
- Mainieri: This program is not in the doldrums, they are close, he has a one year, not a three year plan, didn’t come to lose or be mediocre, #Gamecocks baseball represents excellence.
- Mainieri: This is his last stop, no more coaching after this, so his plan is to go for it all right away, and a lot of the success will depend on the players’ approach. Have to be a champion every day if you want to hold the trophy at the end.
- Mainieri: He knows about fan expectations having come from LSU. No one wins every game, going to be their nose bloodied, and fans will be critical, but only one thing worse than criticism and that’s apathy.
- Mainieri: Analytics can be very valuable in coaching baseball and it’s crazy not to use what’s available, but he also trusts his own judgement when it comes to analyzing talent he has to make the judgement on which players he can trust.
- Mainieri: They will be a good baserunning team, will have a couple of guys with power, will have guys who can grind out an at bat and put down a bunt and will have a good defensive team. He will coach the infielders. Lee with the outfielders. Not sure on catchers.
- Mainieri: You’ve got to win the close ones and to do that is you have to have clutch hitting, poise on the mound and belief.