For the second time in three years, South Carolina baseball has a new leader at the helm.
After a failed experiment that saw former head coach Paul Mainieri lead the Gamecocks through some of the worst seasons in program history, athletic director Jeremiah Donati made a splashy new hire over the summer, giving fans hope for the return of a once-national powerhouse.
It’s time for Schnall ball
On June 10, South Carolina announced that Kevin Schnall would become the 33rd head coach of South Carolina baseball. Schnall spent more than 20 years at Coastal Carolina, with his last two seasons as head coach of the Chanticleers.
In his first season as head coach, Schnall led Coastal Carolina to the College World Series finals before eventually losing to LSU.
After a decent 2026 season, Schnall joins the SEC for his first season in the top conference in college baseball.
“Carolina embodies everything great about college baseball,” Schnall said . "As a coach, we’ve always wanted to measure ourselves against the best. The SEC is the major leagues of college baseball.”
Offensively, South Carolina has struggled over the past few seasons, finishing near the bottom half of the conference since 2019. In 2026, the team ended the season last in the SEC offensively, batting just .235.
Schnall discussed his offensive philosophy in June during his first press conference as head coach.
"If you’re playing in a rainy day, big ballpark, whatever it may be, we want to put together the most dynamic, diverse offense we can possibly do," Schnall said.
Schnall also emphasized a desire to increase the use of analytics. Schnall brought in Matt Pepin as the General Manager and Director of Analytics. Pepin previously worked under Schnall at Coastal Carolina and used data and technology to enhance player development and game strategy.
Familiar faces make their return
Schnall is bringing new staff to Columbia with him in hopes of creating a championship-caliber program that fans once knew. A key piece of his staff is pitching coach Matt Williams, who spent one season at South Carolina in 2024 in that same role before heading to Coastal Carolina for two seasons.
Williams has a staff comprised of transfers from Coastal and other schools, as well as a small handful of returning arms from the 2026 South Carolina team to lead.
A young but familiar face to Columbia also makes his return to South Carolina in a new role for this upcoming season. Dylan Eskew was a member of the Gamecock’s pitching staff from 2023-25 before heading to Coastal Carolina as the Director of Pitching Development for the Chanticleers in 2025.
Now back at his alma mater in that same role, Eskew looks to contribute to this new staff in a conference with which he is quite familiar with. In his three seasons at South Carolina, Eskew made 34 appearances and led the Gamecocks to the 2023 Super Regionals and 2024 Regionals.
Schnall and Williams brought a handful of players from Coastal Carolina with them to Columbia, but they are not the only coaches who saw players follow them from one school to another.
Home run hire from ACC
Bill Cilento joins South Carolina’s coaching staff as Associate Head Coach and Hitting Coach after spending 17 seasons at Wake Forest .
Cilento coached some big names during his tenure with the Deacs including current MLB players Nick Kurtz and Chase Burns. Overall, 64 players under Cliento’s leadership have been drafted or signed professional contracts .
In addition to Cilento’s talents, some players from Wake Forest decided to follow their former hitting coach to his new program.
Incoming sophomore catcher Andrew Costello comes in ranked as D1 Baseball’s No. 38 transfer portal hitter. Costello had a massive summer for the Bourne Braves in the Cape Cod Baseball League, hitting a .361 batting average and four home runs to become the 2026 CCBL Batting Champ.
Incoming junior infielder and designated hitter Luke Costello and sophomore infielder JD Stein will also join the Gamecock offense with Cilento for the upcoming season from Wake Forest. D1 Baseball had both Luke Costello—Andrew's older brother—and Stein on its top transfer portal lists as well, coming in at No. 16 and No. 23, respectively.
"You got to surround yourself with elite people, which we're going to do, which we've done in the past, and we're going to do that again here," Schnall said.