COLUMBIA, SC - Former LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri has come out of retirement and has been formally introduced as the new head baseball coach at the University of South Carolina.

Mainieri who has coached baseball for nearly 40 years and has made six appearances in the College World Series complimented by a national championship win in 2009 and a runner up finish in 2017 during his time as LSU's head coach.

Mainieri retired from coaching after LSU Baseball's 2021 season citing health problems, but in his introductory press conference at South Carolina on Thursday, he says "I feel like I'm 40 years old again!"

Coach Mainieri is the Gamecock's 31st coach in program history and he is also the active leader in career wins in Division I (1,505).

He retained South Carolina's associate head coach/hitting coach Monte Lee and he added pitching coach/recruiting coordinator Terry Rooney from LSU and assistant coach John Hendry.

During his introductory press conference, Mainieri reflected on his successful career, showed gratitude to the South Carolina administration and his family, but he also made it clear about what he came to accomplish in Columbia.

"I'm standing here in front of you, telling you we're going to win. There's no doubt in my mind about that. It's not even up for discussion. We're going to do it. We're going to get it done, but that doesn't mean every step is forward. There might be three steps forward, one step back, five steps forward, one step back, and that's just the nature of it. But how our players deal with adversity? Short term adversity, and how our players handle success with humility, and knowing that at the end of the day, you know what, tomorrow's a new day. The score starts 0-0 again, and we've got to turn the page and be ready to play each and every day," Mainieri said.