South Carolina baseball coaching search: Top names, timeline and NIL concerns at USC

South Carolina fired baseball coach Mark Kingston on Monday morning.

D1Baseball managing editor Kendall Rogers spoke with Phil Kornblut and Chris Burgin on the topic during Monday’s SportsTalk radio show and where the Gamecocks might turn for its next coach.

Rogers is a national writer considered to be an authority on college baseball, with connections to coaching searches and how they work. Here’s what had to say on South Carolina and its current search for a new baseball coach.

PK: Like so many, I guess you sensed that something was coming down here. Something was possible with South Carolina. Why do you think at the end of the day, Ray Tanner decided to make this move?

KR: I think the biggest thing is if you look at just the South Carolina program as a whole, there’s no doubt that Mark Kingston took the Gamecocks to the postseason last year. They were in a Super Regional two years ago. But I don’t think anybody that would look at South Carolina’s program would go, hey, this is a program that is going to consistently threatening Tennessee, they’re going to consistently threaten Vanderbilt, Florida, etc. And I think if you’re a South Carolina with that rabid of a fan base, you’ve got that kind of ballpark at Founders Park, and you feel like you’re not competing, you’re not really threatening those programs. I think you feel like you have to make a move, because the problem in the NIL area is the bigger hole you get into, the more trouble you’re in.

So, I think Ray kind of felt like it was necessary to make a move now because I think the time is right for them to go out and get a splashy name. The last go around, Mark wasn’t such a massive name. He was a successful coach, don’t get me wrong, but he was not a huge name. I think this go around that they think you can go out and land one of these so-called big fishes.

PK: Who would you consider a big fish that might be interested in coming to Columbia?

KR: I think the biggest guy for me would probably be Cliff Godwin (ECU) or Dan McDonnell (Louisville). The thing I wonder about the Cliff, is he’s been to East Carolina for several years. His dream is obviously to get that program to Omaha. If you’re Cliff Godwin, and you love ECU, but ultimately everybody wants to coach in the SEC, then your time is kind of running out. You don’t really know when Mike Bianco (Ole Miss) is going to hang it up. It doesn’t look like there’s gonna be a job opening time soon with other programs around the league. So, if you’re Cliff, you kind of wonder if your time’s running out. South Carolina is a place that he knows well. He knows that region in and out from a recruiting standpoint. He’s been in that area before. And I think that would make a lot of sense.

McDonnell for me, if Dan was able to adapt to the NIL era, I think he would be a really good hire. My issue with Dan, not to offend Clemson people at all, he is a little bit like Dabo (Swinney), in the sense where in college baseball, he (Dan) doesn’t want to use NIL. And if you’re going to compete in the Southeastern Conference against those teams, you’ve got to dabble in NIL. If he will change on that regard, I think that would be a great hire. So that’s kind of a caveat for me. Those would be the two main ones kind of off the top of my head.

PK: Kingston made the comment in his post-game Sunday in Raleigh about NIL and indicating that he thought maybe South Carolina wasn’t doing enough NIL for him to go out and get the players. What’s your read there? Is South Carolina doing enough? It wants to play with the big boys. It wants to be a big boy again. Is South Carolina doing enough in that space?

KR: So that’s the thing and he is right. Like I know that for a fact that they are not playing in the same ballpark NIL-wise with Tennessee, Arkansas, LSU, Texas A&M, etc. The reason why I know that is because one of their better players could very well end up in the (transfer) portal because all these other star players are getting X amount of money and he’s getting a fraction of that.

There’s no question that holds you back. The problem you run into with Mark is on one hand, you’re saying hey, I need all this NIL money. But if there’s fatigue and there’s apathy with the fan base, the donor base and they won’t give that money because they just don’t really support you all that much. Then you’re at a stalemate, right? Like, you’re not doing a terrible job, but you’re not going to be able to get the players you need to get to Omaha. I think that goes back to the reason why Ray made this decision. There’s donor fatigue, there’s donor apathy. And so I think that’s a big reason for it.

CB: How much time does Ray Tanner, in your mind, have to make this hire so that South Carolina doesn’t start first off losing tons of players to the portal, and also maybe missing out on guys they might be able to bring in with a new head coach?

KR: If you are South Carolina, you really got to get on that horn from an NIL perspective. I don’t want to name names just because if they don’t go on the portal, I don’t want to get people blowing them up. A couple of their better players are rumored to be going to the portal. And you really got to get on that from an NIL standpoint. With a coaching search and modern college baseball, you cannot afford to wait two and a half, three weeks to make a decision. By that time, kids have made decisions, they are in the portal and things are already set up and where they’re going.

I kind of go back to Jay Johnson (LSU coach) last year in Omaha. I’m sitting there talking to Jay in the hotel lobby, they’re playing for the national championship on a Friday. And he is over there pulling his hair out. And I’m like, man, what’s wrong? And he’s like, “All these teams are getting guys out of the portal, and I’m here in Omaha. I know I should be happy about playing for the national championship. But I’m also trying to land guys out of the portal.” That gives you an idea, kind of allows you to pull back the curtain on what these coaches are dealing with. So time is definitely of the essence, especially at a program like Carolina, to where you want to make an immediate impact. You want to make an immediate move in that space.

CB: He may be a touch off your radar just because he coaches at a Division Two program, but my guess is you’re at least familiar with Landon Powell. A lot of Gamecock fans would love to see him come back and coach as at his alma mater. Is that a move for Ray Tanner that you can make than a splashy hire because he’s a former Gamecock. Or is a Division Two coach maybe not ready to coach in the SEC?

KR: I think Landon has done an incredible job, to say the least. What he’s done at that level is amazing. I just think if you’re Ray, and you’re wanting to make a splash, I don’t think you’re making a splash by going and hiring someone from a different division. Because you don’t really know how he’s going to be as a Division One head coach. He may be great at the D2 level or what not. You have no litmus test on what he can do at the Division One level. Personally, you’re probably better off with Mark Kingston, because you least know what you’re gonna get right. He’s gonna get you to the postseason.

Whereas Landon, it can either strike hot, or it can be as one of the things we’re in two years, you’re like, man, I gotta get gotta get rid of one of my favorite players in Gamecock history. Because, boy, he’s just not ready for this. And I just don’t think Ray wants to go through that. And, frankly, you cannot go through that in the SEC of current structure.

PK: If you’re Ray Tanner, and you know the clock is ticking on your time as a AD at South Carolina, and your greatest time at South Carolina, where your years as baseball coach and those two runs to the College World Series, three years in a row and two national championships. You had that great run. Why not bring the band back together? You got Monte Lee serving as the interim coach. He was with you when you won the second time around. You’ve got a Jim Toman who is available and looking for a head coaching job. And you got Landon Powell a young up and coming coach. Would that coaching staff not have a little bit of wow to it from a South Carolina standpoint. Would it be looked down upon in some ways? How would it be played? How would that be viewed nationally in your opinion?

KR: I mean, if you’re able to put that staff together, and let’s say Monte was the head coach and Landon and Jim are assistants. I think that’s a great pitch. I think you’d have to exhaust a couple of your options to get to that point. But I mean, if that’s your worst case scenario, in my opinion, that’s a hell of a worst case scenario. I wouldn’t have an issue with that. People will go back to the fact that Monte couldn’t get their regional at Clemson. But we all know that that takes a lot of luck. Sometimes things just don’t fall your way. It’s not like Clemson went into games and you’re like, oh, man, this looks like a horribly-coached team. They just had some really bad breaks. And so yeah, I would have no issue with that option.