USC lets Kingston go

Mark Kingston had an 83-96 record
in SEC games. (USC photo)

USC athletics director Ray Tanner announced Monday that Mark Kingston would not be returning as baseball coach.

John Whittle of TheBigSpur.com was the first to report the story.

Kingston had a 217-155 record in seven seasons. His final Carolina team was 37-25, including a 1-2 record in the NCAA Raleigh Regional. The season ended with a listless offensive performance in a 2-0 loss to James Madison on Sunday.

Carolina lost its last six regular-season games, but likely cemented an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament with a 3-2 performance in the SEC Tournament.

Assistant  head coach Monte Lee will serve as interim head coach.

In six full seasons (the 2020 season was stopped short because of CoVID-19), Kingston's teams had two super regional trips and two more to regionals. But he also coached the school's first losing season since 1996.

Fan criticisms of Kingston included an overdependence on metrics, poor fundamentals, an overabundance of strikeouts,  continuously evolving roles for pitchers and a lack of involvement with the overall USC athletics community.

Fan apathy surrounding the program resulted in sagging attendance at Founders Park. USC was thought to still be in contention for an NCAA regional berth entering the final home series with Georgia. None of the three games sold out, even though the school offered reduced ticket prices.

Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball.com reports Kingston is likely to be a candidate at South Florida, the school he left for USC. South Florida parted ways with head coach Billy Mohl last month.

Rogers also posted on X (formerly Twitter) that USC might need to do some to keep one of the key players on the roster. Rogers did not name the player, but the implication is that Ethan Petry might look elsewhere after Kingston's departure. Petry is from Florida an was recruited by Kingston.

 

Social media speculation about Lingston's successor abounded with names. They included

* Duke coach Chris Pollard.

* East Carolina coach Cliff Godwin.

* Campbell coach Justin Haire.

* Lee, who is serving as interim coach and had winning programs at College of Charleston and Clemson.

* Mississippi State coach Chris Lemonis, a South Carolina native and former The Citadel player.

* Louisville coach Dan McDonnell, a former The Citadel player.

* USC Upstate coach Mike McGuire, a former Gamecocks shortstop.

* Nova Southeastern coach Adrian Morales, who was a leader of  USC's 2010-11 national championship teams.

* North Greenville coach Landon Powell, who won an NCAA Division II title with the Crusaders and was on three USC College World Series teams.

* Wake Forest coach Tom Walter.

Assistant coaches at successful programs like Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee and LSU also have been championed by some fans.