The NCAA Baseball Tournament is heading toward Super Regionals, but one SEC head coach has already been fired following his team’s loss.
South Carolina is moving on from head coach Mark Kingston, following the Gamecocks’ loss in the Raleigh Regional on Sunday afternoon.
Kingston has been the program’s head coach for seven seasons. During that time, the Gamecocks have reached the Super Regionals two times.
“South Carolina baseball coach Mark Kingston was fired on Monday after seven seasons where he reached the NCAA Tournament four times and only twice reached the NCAA Super Regionals. The Gamecocks got to the postseason this year but went 1-2 in the regionals; they were in line to host their own regional but lost their final six regular-season games when one win probably would have meant a home site,” the Post & Courier wrote.
Kingston finished his time at South Carolina with a 217-155 record (83-96 SEC).
According to the Post & Courier, South Carolina’s AD, Ray Tanner, is under huge pressure to make a big baseball hire:
Tanner is under immense pressure to nail this hire, as his reputation as a baseball coach has nearly been surpassed by his reputation for coaching hires that have not worked out. Holbrook and Kingston glare as harshly as giving Will Muschamp another shot at coaching football after he was fired at Florida following a loss to South Carolina; while volleyball coach Tom Mendoza has been solid, football coach Shane Beamer had two better-than-expected seasons before slipping to 5-7 last year and men’s basketball coach Lamont Paris, at present, looks like a grand slam, the list of maybes and/or minuses is much heavier than the pluses.
A national search for Kingston’s replacement will begin immediately on Monday.
The 2024 NCAA Baseball Tournament will continue on Monday.