This offseason one of the biggest moves around the Country was made when former National Championship winning Head Coach Paul Mainieri came out of retirement to coach the South Carolina Gamecocks. The move came three seasons after Mainieri retired after 15 seasons at LSU where he won the 2009 National Championship along with 12 seasons at Notre Dame, 6 seasons at Air Force, and 6 seasons at St Thomas University.
The Gamecocks hired Mainieri with the hope of bringing the program back to relevance after the Mark Kingston era where the team failed to make a run to Omaha. This season under Mainieri hasn't been the turnaround South Carolina fans hoped for and now Mainieri finds himself on the hot seat heading into the offseason if he's not fired earlier.
The Gamecocks are just 26-24 on the season but, the 5-20 record in SEC play is the biggest concern for South Carolina's fanbase. At the start of the season the Gamecocks showed promise starting the year 9-0 but, the record against far inferior opponents proved to be fools' gold.
Clemson dealt the team its first loss of the season sweeping the Gamecocks in the Palmetto Series. The only series win in Conference play the team has been able to pick up was against Ole Miss in April. As the pressure began to pick up and the questions around Maineri's future began to swirl, the Gamecocks got demolished by Florida last weekend as the Gamecocks were swept including a 22-3 loss to Florida.
After Mainieri himself and the school had to speak on the Head Coach's future with the program, picking up some momentum this weekend was needed this weekend. Instead, Thursday night's matchup against Auburn could be the straw that breaks the camel's back as it was another embarrassing showing by the Gamecocks. After taking a 1-0 lead, South Carolina got demolished as Auburn scored 9 runs in the 5th inning to take a 24-1 lead which only upset the fanbase more.
The Gamecocks now have just 6 games left in the regular season to attempt to build any momentum prior to the SEC Tournament where they'd need a total turnaround to play their way into the NCAA Tournament. After wrapping up this series against Auburn, the final regular season series of the year for Mainieri comes against his alma mater and the program he won the National Championship with as the Gamecocks host LSU.