The South Carolina Gamecocks baseball program is in search of its next head coach. After spending seven seasons in the dugout, Mark Kingston was fired following his team’s most recent NCAA Tournament exit.
Now, the focus turns to finding his replacement.
Some unexpected transfer portal movement at a nearby school has led to speculation surrounding one particular candidate.The Gamecocks have been one of college baseball’s best programs in the 21st century, having made six trips to Omaha while owning a pair of national titles. Each of those deep postseason runs, however, came with Ray Tanner at the helm.
Tanner retired from his role as head coach in 2013 following South Carolina’s third straight trip to the College World Series finals. He was then hired as athletic director. Since, the Gamecocks have struggled to rediscover that success.
Mark Kingston was hired in 2017 after a stint with South Florida. Across seven seasons, he posted a 217-155 mark with an 83-96 record in conference play.
South Carolina was dispatched in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament this past campaign after back-to-back losses to NC State and James Madison. Less than 24 hours after the year ended, he was fired.
A shortlist of candidates has since been revealed, which includes Duke’s Chris Pollard, ECU’s Cliff Godwin, Tennessee’s Josh Elander, and current interim head coach Monte Lee.
Recruits and current players have voiced support of Lee, who was on Ray Tanner’s staff from 2003-2008. Activity at another nearby program has caused intrigue surrounding another candidate, though.
Would ECU’s baseball coach bolt for South Carolina?
Things have gotten interesting for the Pirates as Cliff Godwin’s watched six players suddenly hop in the transfer portal – including two of the team’s top stars.
Freshman sensation Bristol Carter made his decision on Thursday after hitting .346 in his rookie year. That announcement came shortly after starting pitcher Zach Root’s (6-2, 3.46 ERA) portal entry a few days prior.
Is something going on behind the scenes? Do those prospects have their next destination in mind?
Reports have differed surrounding Cliff Godwin’s candidacy. Some believe he’s happy at East Carolina, having spurned SEC job offers in the past to stay in Greenville, NC.
No ECU source I’ve spoken with believes Cliff Godwin would leave for South Carolina.
He’s had similar (SEC) opportunities to leave and hasn’t. The longer he stays in Greenville, harder it will be for any program to pry him away.
Money is not a factor for Godwin, btw.
Others, though, believe he’s Ray Tanner’s top choice, and with the influence of the transfer portal and NIL in college sports continuing to grow, he could feel this the time to make the jump from mid-major to SEC.
More from John Whittle of The Big Spur:
I’ll just lead by saying this… based on what I can gather from multiple sources around college baseball and from within the university, my belief is that East Carolina head coach Cliff Godwin is the top target for Tanner…
Godwin has been a hot name for a long time in college baseball and, as I’ve mentioned before, word in the baseball world is that Ole Miss is the job he’s always had circled.
Could Tanner have convinced him to finally make that jump to the SEC? And is he planning on bringing some ECU stars with him to Columbia? Time will tell!
Nothing has been decided in the South Carolina baseball coaching search. It’s all speculation to this point. The transfer portal activity is eyebrow raising, though, given the Gamecocks’ supposed interest in coach Godwin.
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