HOOVER, AL — South Carolina baseball is on the verge of change. Interim coach Monte Lee wants to be the permanent choice to bring it in.
The No. 15 seed Gamecocks lost 11-6 to No. 10 Tennessee in the first round of the SEC Tournament at the Hoover Met on May 19.
South Carolina (22-35) is eliminated with the loss, ending the Gamecocks’ season. It marked the 13th consecutive loss for the Gamecocks, and South Carolina will miss the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season. The Gamecocks have made a super regional only once since 2018.
South Carolina has been led by Lee, who took over after the school announced March 21 that Paul Mainieri would not finish his second season.
Jeremiah Donati became athletic director in early 2025 and is expected to open a national coaching search. Lee was asked after the season ended to make his pitch to be the hire.
“It gets a little bit hard to talk about yourself constantly,” said Lee, a former Clemson coach. “The only thing I’ll say is this. I got into coaching 26 years ago to serve players and be a good mentor and role model. Coach the player to the best of my ability … I’ve always had the players’ backs.”
South Carolina second baseman Patrick Evans spoke glowingly about Lee, who was seated next to him in the postgame interview room.
“I think any one of our players would say it, this guy deserves a job next year,” Evans said. “He’s our leader, man. We’re his soldiers and I think we would run through a brick wall for this guy.”
Lee has been the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator for South Carolina since 2022. He was the coach at Clemson from 2016-22, where he had a 242-136 record with four NCAA Tournament appearances.
“I’ve had a lot of success as a head coach,” Lee said. “I know this season has been really, really tough. The last two years have been really, really tough. But, look, I know who I am. I know what I’ve accomplished as a head coach. I just ask anybody to look at my track record as a head coach.”
The new coach will look to revitalize a program looking to resurrect the dominance achieved under Ray Tanner, who coached South Carolina for 16 seasons and won national titles in 2010 and 2011.
Lee said his next step is to hold exit meetings individually with players to assess the season, and that he expects to meet with Donati at some point. Lee said South Carolina needs to build a rock-solid foundation with players from South Carolina where the success of the program is personal to them.
“Whoever the next leader of this program is needs to build a program,” Lee said. “And I understand why, because I’ve been right in the middle of it. The expectations of this program are very, very high.”
Sam Hutchens covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at Shutchens@gannett.com or reach him on X at @Sam_Hutchens_
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: South Carolina baseball season ends, Monte Lee makes pitch for coach job
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