BATON ROUGE - Former LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri is expected to be the next head coach for South Carolina's baseball team, a report said. 

According to Kendall Rogers, Mainieri is expected to fill Mark Kingston's role with the Gamecocks. On June 3, South Carolina announced that Kingston would not be returning for the 2025 season. 

Kingston has led the team for the past six seasons. In 2024, South Carolina was ranked as high as No. 7 in the nation but finished the regular season with at No. 21. 

Mainieri played for LSU in 1976. He returned to Baton Rouge in 2007 and took over as head coach for the Tigers, leading the team to a 2009 NCAA title and four SEC championships. He announced his retirement in 2021 after his 15th season. During that year, Mainieri sat down with WBRZ's John Pastorek for Sunday Journal.

Mainieri couldn't stay away from the game for long. In fall 2023, the Baton Rouge Community College announced that Mainieri would be special advisor to the head baseball coach.