HOOVER, Ala. — On January 24th, day one of pre-season camp, an enthusiastic, borderline giddy Paul Mainieri spoke for 56 minutes about his excitement for his first season as South Carolina head coach. He talked about how young he felt, how much he missed being in the dugout, how exciting it was to have a fresh start.
Fast forward to May 20th, a dejected Mainieri spoke for seven after the final moments of what can only be described as the worst season of the 132 in Gamecock baseball history.
South Carolina lost 11-3 to Florida in the first round of the SEC Tournament, details so far removed from the purpose of the discussion he did not field a single question about the game itself. His team finished with a school-record 29 losses, a school record 24 SEC losses, 385 runs allowed, 16 games with double-digit runs allowed and the worst run differential since 1951.
“I'm an optimist by nature,” Mainieri said. “And I thought that we would have what it took to compete in this league. Evidently, obviously, we didn't, the way the season went.”
Calling it merely bad or disappointing would not do justice to the gravity of the situation.
It cannoned so far beyond the normal realm of struggles for any college baseball team — let alone one with South Carolina’s resources and expectations — that it is fair to wonder if the situation is even fixable without completely blowing it up.
Mainieri said everything a coach in his situation usually does.
He underscored his optimism about the incoming class of junior college transfers and high school recruits. He doubled down on his support for pitching coach Terry Rooney, even after a pitching staff with a healthy dose of returning talent from last year recorded the worst overall ERA in program history. Before anyone even had a chance to ask him about the other assistant coaches, he emphatically shut that down.
“Terry Rooney is here to stay,” he said. “And there won't be any other changes with our staff.”
Saying the words is one thing, and to be expected given the circumstances.
If it actually comes to pass, though? If the Gamecocks show up next February without changing a single aspect of the program aside from adding new players, something every single other team does in droves now with the transfer portal available?
That approach would be nothing short of malpractice, both from Mainieri and the administration above him.
Deciding exactly what to do is easier said than done. Firing the head coach is great in practice and would satiate the masses, but also cost the university over $5 million before even touching the question of assistant coaches or hiring a new staff.
Changing assistants or at least shuffling responsibilities would prove Mainieri at least acknowledged how poorly it went and that something in his dugout must look different.
Can you really have the single highest paid assistant coach in all of college baseball — hitting coach Monte Lee — coaching a team that won six out of 35 games against power four opponents? Can you really bring back a pitching coach who shepherded a staff to 385 runs allowed in 57 games?
“He's not going anywhere,” Mainieri said about Rooney. “He's an outstanding coach, and he'll prove that as we go forward.”
A lot will happen between now and the next game. An entire transfer portal cycle, the MLB Draft, fall workouts, another brief portal window and then pre-season camp. If Mainieri insists on running it back with the exact same staff and is allowed to do so, something must change in those months. Fall structure, scheduling, scrimmages, portal scouting, everything should be under the microscope.
Questions must be asked over Mainieri’s head too. New Athletics Director Jeremiah Donati did not create this situation, but it will be his responsibility to fix it. What financial backing can he help secure for the program? Is there a way to restructure talent acquisition?
What about facilities? Can anything be done to improve the experience at Founders Park, once the most intimidating environment in college baseball but now a morgue frequently coated in empty seats and visiting fans?
Likewise, if Mainieri remains completely unwilling to change anything and remains firmly entrenched in his stance that everything going on with the adults in the room was correct, that the only missing ingredient of a 29-loss season was his players not being talented enough, Donati himself will have a difficult decision to make.
Can you afford to pay the $5.2 million buyout and start over? Probably not, at least not comfortably.
But can you afford not to do it as the fanbase has reached unprecedented levels of apathy and frustration?
“Yes,” Mainieri responded when asked point blank if he felt like he still had the administration’s support. “Very simply, yes.”
Deciding what to change is the hard part. But the notion that the only issue was talent or bad luck — Maineiri also mentioned injuries to Eli Jerzemebck, Nolan Nawrocki and Talmadge LeCroy — reeks of both arrogance and malpractice.
The idea that one good transfer portal class alone can save this is out of touch with reality. South Carolina could double its SEC win total next year, and it would still almost certainly fall short of even reaching the NCAA Tournament. It would have to multiply it by more than 2.5 to even scrape a winning record in the league.
The Gamecocks were outscored by 157 runs in 31 SEC games. That's not getting fixed by simply changing out some players, especially not when the two most consistent ones on the roster, Ethan Petry and Nathan Hall, will both be gone next year.
When it goes this badly, everyone has a hand in it. Players, head coach, assistants, backroom staff, developmental staff, scouting and certainly the administration.
Everything won’t change, but everything should at least be on the table for discussion.
If it doesn’t go on the table, and Paul remains steadfast that his assistant coaching and structure was completely correct, then his own position belongs there, too.
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