Paul Mainieri didn’t mince words about what lured him to South Carolina, what brought the national-championship-winning college baseball coach out of retirement to move his life and take over the Gamecocks program.
“The reason that I came here,” Mainieri said during his opening press conference in June, “is because of Ray Tanner.”
Three months after Mainieri uttered those words, Tanner abruptly announced he would soon step down as South Carolina’s athletic director , set to transition to a new role in the USC president’s office upon the Gamecocks hiring his successor.
Like others in South Carolina’s athletic department, the announcement blindsided Mainieri.
“I can’t lie, I was pretty shocked,” Mainieri said Monday. “I could see it in his face that he was getting kind of worn down by the job. Even at the time he hired me — he had hired four coaches in a week.”
It’s true. In about a week’s time, Tanner hired Mainieri, softball coach Ashley Chastain, men’s golf coach Rob Bradley and equestrian coach Carol Gwin.
Mainieri was the splash hire. It was the third time Tanner hired a baseball coach since he himself left the post — following 16 seasons and a pair of national championships — to become athletic director in 2012.
It was not necessarily Tanner’s decision to step down that was shocking, but rather the timing — and the secrecy. It seems he confided in very few people, to the point that head football coach Shane Beamer found out the news via X (formerly Twitter).
Mainieri, age 67, did not see Tanner, 66, being at South Carolina another decade. He also “did not anticipate that he would retire four months into my tenure here,” Mainieri said. “That’s for sure.”
South Carolina President Michael Amiridis has said the search for a new athletic director won’t begin until the end of November, which seems to indicate that Tanner’s replacement won’t be on the job until sometime in the winter.
Perhaps the new role might free up Tanner to spend more time around Founders Park.
“He’ll still be around, evidently. That’s what he keeps telling me,” Mainieri said. “He said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna have more time to spend with you now.’ ”
Asked if Mainieri has thought about hiring Tanner to his staff, Mainieri chuckled.
“The thought has crossed my mind,” he said.
The other thought on his mind: Who is his next boss going to be?
Mainieri took this job under the assumption that Tanner, someone who understands what it takes to win in college baseball better than anyone, would be the man in charge. And now? Who knows?
In saying that, Mainieri wanted to be clear: Just because his friend will no longer be his boss does not mean he’s second-guessing anything.
“I am totally committed to being here,” he said. “My eyes are always off in the distance, where I wanna see this team get to — a little city up in the Midwest. That’s the goal.
“I’m totally committed to that,” he added. “And these young men who have been entrusted to me, they deserve my best and all of the coaches’ best, regardless of who the athletic director is.”
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