South Carolina has hired South Florida head coach Mark Kingston. Took the Bulls to the NCAA Tournament two of his three seasons there.
Mark Kingston hired by South Carolina
- Thread starter Derek Terry
- Start date
His hiring also wraps up the SEC coaching carousel.
Alabama - Brad Bohannon
South Carolina - Mark Kingston
Tennessee - Tony Vitello
Alabama - Brad Bohannon
South Carolina - Mark Kingston
Tennessee - Tony Vitello
South Carolina fans are in complete meltdown mode. I think they thought they had a shot at Kevin O'Sullivan.
That is a pretty interesting hire by South Carolina. Kingston certainly hasn't shown me anything to make me think he is some sort of a home run hire.
Heard on radio yesterday that O'Sullivan makes $1.2 million per year, and Chad Holbrook made $405,000 last year at USC. That is quite a difference.
O'Sullivan has no reason to leave Florida. Obviously winning the title is big, but the Gators are going to have a good team every year. South Carolina fans certainly expected more than the hire of Kingston, but they should give him a few seasons to see what he can do.
My take is that Vitello was a really good hire for UT, considering that he has SEC experience, is said to be a great recruiter, has lots of young energy, etc. Seems like a very Mingione-like hire to me.
Not impressed by the Kingston hire, relative to South Carolina expectations. They thought they might get Dan McDonnell or O'Sullivan, so this has to be a letdown for them.
Bohannon also a good hire for Bama.
I'd say that the SEC coaching tree just got stronger after these three coming on (vs. their predecessors as a whole).
Not impressed by the Kingston hire, relative to South Carolina expectations. They thought they might get Dan McDonnell or O'Sullivan, so this has to be a letdown for them.
Bohannon also a good hire for Bama.
I'd say that the SEC coaching tree just got stronger after these three coming on (vs. their predecessors as a whole).
You never really know with these hires. I thought Serrano was a home run hire for Tennessee. A guy that went to two college world series with two different schools and had won 40 games every season for 6 years before going to UT. Still, at UT he never made the NCAA tournament and only won over 30 games one time in 6 years, and never finished better than 6th in the SEC East. I don't know why Serrano wasn't successful at UT... just never seemed to put it together. So, any of these guys could be pretty darn good or could flop.
For Chad Holbrook, in some respects I think he was just the victim of following a legend like Ray Tanner. Tanner went to the CWS final three years in a row before taking the AD job, and while Holbrook hasn't done really poorly, it just wasn't enough to satisfy USC fans. That being the case, it doesn't make much sense that they hired an "up and comer" who doesn't have the best resume. That is just going to make it that much harder for Kingston to be successful, because the fans are already going to be against him in some regards.
He has been a HC for 8 seasons, at Illinois State and South Florida. 1 Ncaa tourney at ISU and 2 in 3 years at USF. I believe he is 47 yrs. old, and was a former ast. coach at Miami, when they won a NC.
Personally, I think he will do better than Holbrook did, but nothing like Tanner accomplished. He will certainly have the resources at USC to be successful.
He's had some success. No doubt. However, nothing about him really screams that he's something special. He won just 24 games his first year and the success for USF isn't that much different from what they had before. I think he's a solid coach but I just don't see him being a home run.
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