Paul Mainieri getting crushed on social media as South Carolina’s poor season reaches new low

Paul Mainieri was lured out of retirement by now-former South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner to lead the Gamecocks’ baseball program after the firing of Mark Kingston.

Mainieri certainly wasn’t lacking the credentials: after leading Notre Dame to the College World Series in 2002, he took LSU to Omaha 5 times — winning a championship in 2009 and finishing as a runner-up in 2017 — while accumulating over 1,500 wins during his career before hanging the cleats up in 2021.

Year 1 of the Mainieri era at South Carolina, though, has been far from successful.

The Gamecocks kicked off a 3-game series with Auburn on Thursday and were embarrassed, 24-2, in 7 innings. That dropped them to 26-24 overall and 5-20 in the SEC. It comes days after a 22-3 loss to Florida at Founders Park, a game in which the Gators scored 11 in the 9th.

Mainieri, signed to a 5-year contract, has already committed to returning for 2026. But he’ll be expected to make massive improvements to this team in a hurry. That’s if new AD Jeremiah Donati doesn’t pull the plug after 1 season.

South Carolina was once one of the top programs in the sport and a constant in the postseason. This year, barring a miracle run in the SEC Tournament, it won’t even sniff Regionals. It will be the second time in four years the Gamecocks will have missed the NCAA Tournament.

Here’s reaction to the Gamecocks’ performance under Mainieri in 2025:

Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men’s national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.