Paul Mainieri has struggled in Year 1 at South Carolina. The LSU legend has been here before.
He didn’t think his first year at his new school would be as difficult as it was in 2007, his first season at LSU.
“In the fall, I thought there were a few pieces,” Mainieri told The Advocate.
But after getting swept at Clemson during nonconference play, Mainieri recognized shortcomings with his new team. They proved to be holes he couldn’t fill during Southeastern Conference play.
“The conference is just so tough. You know, it’s unforgiving,” Mainieri said. “And our schedule in particular was really difficult this year, and it exposed our limitations, where we have them.”
South Carolina holds a 5-22 record in the SEC. Mainieri’s team is 27-26 overall and has won only one series in conference play, taking down Ole Miss twice last month.
The Gamecocks are nowhere near the postseason picture heading into this weekend’s series against LSU beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday (SEC Network) in Columbia, South Carolina.forgot how hard it is to win college baseball games, I guess,” Mainieri said.
Mainieri’s difficulties this season in some ways mirror what happened in 2007, when he left Notre Dame for Baton Rouge to replace Smoke Laval.
The Tigers were 29-26-1 that season and went just 12-17-1 in SEC play. Mainieri knew he’d have to take his lumps, but his confidence never wavered when it came to whether he could turn the program around.
“I told the team that, ‘This will be the last year that LSU was ever taken lightly again,’ ” Mainieri said. “And it’s a pretty bold comment, based upon what had happened in the first year. But I don’t think LSU has been taken lightly again since then.”
The Tigers went to Omaha the next season before winning their sixth national championship in 2009. But before they could find that level of success, they had to build the foundation in 2007
Paul Mainieri has gone through this before. He just thought that he wouldn’t have to do it again.
Mainieri believed the South Carolina team he inherited had some talent, enough so that the Gamecocks could compete immediately in the toughest conference in college baseball
