Paul Mainieri takes aim at South Carolina fans, media: ‘Everybody here was pretty impatient’
By Ethan Stone
Published:
Paul Mainieri is taking aim at South Carolina fans and media, accusing them of being “pretty impatient” after being fired less than 2 years into his stint with South Carolina baseball.
Mainieri, a title-winning coach at LSU, originally retired in 2021 but decided to come out of retirement to take the vacant spot left by Mark Kingston. The Gamecocks — an NCAA Tournament team the season prior — struggled mightily in Year 1 under Mainieri, finishing 28-29 (6-24 in SEC play).
Things didn’t improve this year. Mainieri’s Gamecocks started the season 12-11 and 0-4 in SEC play, which was enough for he and the Gamecocks to agree that he should step aside – as he framed it while speaking to Koki Riley of Nola.com.
Here’s the quote from Mainieri:
“The people here just got very impatient. I’m not talking necessarily even about the athletic director. He was great,” Mainieri said. “But I think (the people) above him, and I think the fans and the media, everybody here was pretty impatient. And so, I just felt like it was time, you know? So when (Donati) and I talked about it, we both kind of agreed that, let’s see if maybe if I step aside, it’ll give a little jolt of new energy to the team.”
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Mainieri will not be remembered for his time at South Carolina. The former LSU head coach won a national title in 2009 and secured 4 SEC championships for the Tigers from 2007-2021. Mainieri finished his LSU career 641–283–3 but fared 40-40 across his 80 games as South Carolina’s head coach. Mainieri’s further dismissive comments regarding South Carolina took account of this, too.
“I’m not going to let one little 80-game era ruin my feelings about my career, and I hope other people don’t look at it that way either,” Mainieri said.
Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.
