Why USC job was a ‘no-brainer’ for former Clemson coach Monte Lee

For the first time in a long time, Monte Lee had a free summer. No recruiting trips. No transfer portal phone calls. Nothing but time to reflect.

Let go by Clemson in June after seven years as head coach, Lee spent much of his offseason walking his dogs around his neighborhood — three times a day. During those strolls, the 45-year-old Lee would replay his years with the Tigers in his mind. Even though his tenure ended with a firing after two straight years of missing the postseason, Lee has few regrets about his time in the Upstate or the relationships he built.

Even still, as soon as Clemson athletic director Graham Neff parted ways with Lee and replaced him with Michigan’s Erik Bakich, Lee made a promise to himself. He wasn’t going to take another college coaching job, not unless it was something that blew him away. Instead, he wanted to sharpen his skills in the professional ranks. Late in the summer, he had all but decided he was going to take a job with a Major League Baseball organization.

Then, surprisingly, South Carolina head baseball coach Mark Kingston came calling.

Kingston informed Lee that his recruiting coordinator and hitting coach Chad Caillet would be leaving the program for personal reasons, to spend time with his family, and Kingston floated the idea to Lee of joining his staff. A phone few calls later, Lee accepted a job as Kingston’s associate head coach and recruiting coordinator.

“It happened very, very fast, but it was a no-brainer situation for me,” Lee said Monday during his introductory press conference with USC.

“For me, just talking to Mark, just based on his excitement about the potential of me coming back, just how it made me feel, I was just very, very grateful that he called. And he really wanted me to come and work for him and help him with the program. And it was an easy ‘yes’ for me.”

Even though Lee spent the last seven seasons with USC’s fiercest rival, he’s always had a “healthy relationship and friendship” with Kingston. The opposing head coaches have routinely checked in with each other over the years, usually every month or so, Lee said. And, of course, Lee already has plenty of familiarity with the South Carolina baseball program.

Raised in nearby Lugoff, Lee served as an assistant and recruiting coordinator on Ray Tanner’s Gamecocks staff from 2003-08 after a playing career with the College of Charleston. Lee said he talked to Tanner a couple of times during the hiring process after Kingston initially reached out, and it was clear during a nearly 45-minute introductory news conference that Lee maintains warm feelings for the Gamecocks program.

After 14 consecutive years as a head coach, Lee said he had no qualms about taking an assistant role in large part because of the appreciation he has for USC.

“If I want the players to believe in something, I have to believe in it, too,” Lee said. “And we’re really big on the players being selfless and putting the program first and dominating their role. I think that’s very, very important. If you want to play at a national championship level, you have to be willing to sacrifice for the program, be selfless and dominate your role.

“And I have no problem whatsoever doing everything that I can to dominate the role that I’m in.”

Kingston’s right-hand man

What exactly will Lee’s role look like?

As Lee described it Monday, it could include a little bit of everything. Given his experience as head coach, Lee expects to serve as a sounding board for Kingston, someone who can help weigh in on lineup decisions and in-game moves. In addition to his responsibilities as recruiting coordinator, Lee will serve as hitting coach and outfielders coach.

“Anything that I can help (Kingston) with, I’m gonna help him with, and maybe even more importantly what can I take off of his plate? Because as the head coach, you have to wear many different hats,” Lee said. “And in this role as an assistant coach, recruiting coordinator, I don’t have to wear as many hats as the head coach. I can concentrate on developing the players here and recruiting. So if there’s things that Mark needs me to do to take off his plate, I can do that because I have the experience of being a head coach.”

After the Gamecocks missed the postseason this spring with a 27-28 record — their first losing season since 1996 — there’s a sense of urgency around the program to once again compete at an Omaha-caliber level. Lee could provide that needed boost.

An inconsistent offense has been an issue the past two seasons for the Gamecocks, and Lee has a track record of developing hitters like Seth Beer and Caden Grice. Most recently, he helped produce one of the leading hitters in the country in Max Wagner, who clubbed 27 home runs for the Tigers last year.

Lee’s teams are known for their strike-zone discipline and grittiness at the plate. He promises an offense that will be aggressive on the basepaths and that can generate runs in a variety of ways. The Gamecocks have brought in seven new hitters from the transfer portal this offseason, and Lee’s mission during the fall will be learning about those players and how they can fit together with the rest of USC’s offensive pieces.

“I think the first key is you have to maximize the strength of the players that you have,” Lee said. “And I know that sounds very generic, but one of the first things that we’re gonna talk about with the guys is understanding what you are: You’re either a buffalo or a deer. And we don’t want the buffaloes trying to be a deer. And we don’t want the deer trying to be a buffalo. And it’s really that simple.”

The other side of the rivalry

As Lee drove to Columbia this weekend, he dialed the numbers of catcher Jonathan French and first baseman/outfielder Dylan Brewer. Both played for Lee at Clemson before transferring to the Gamecocks this summer.

When Lee got to Founders Park for his first team meeting, he saw another former Tiger, right-hander Ricky Williams, and gave him a big hug. Those players all transferred after the Tigers fired Lee. In a sense, they all transferred to USC together.

“Just like those guys, they were looking for a new opportunity, and I have a new opportunity,” Lee said. “So we’re very similar in that regard. It’s great to have some people on the roster that I have relationships with, and our relationships are very, very positive.”

Lee learned from his time under Tanner that the Clemson-USC rivalry is much like the Yankees and Red Sox for the people of South Carolina. The rivalry will have an intriguing twist this season now that Lee is in the opposite dugout, along with three former Tigers players. But Lee certainly doesn’t sound bitter toward the Clemson program, and he told The State after he was let go in June that he would be “a huge supporter” of whoever replaced him with the Tigers.

Lee said Monday that he’ll always have affection for his former players in orange and purple.

“I love those kids dearly,” Lee said. “And I’m not going to shy away from that. Nothing’s going to change how I feel about the players I coach, whether it was as an assistant in South Carolina, as a head coach at the College of Charleston, a head coach at Clemson, and now an assistant coach at South Carolina. You know, the jerseys that we wear is never going to change how I feel about them as people. And I hope they feel the same way.”

Lee’s arrival at South Carolina after seven years at Clemson was unexpected, to say the least, and there’s no telling whether this will be a temporary stop or more of a longer-term role. Lee said he was intrigued by the opportunity to work in professional baseball, and he hinted that other college head coaching jobs were available to him. He’ll likely be an attractive name in head coaching searches for as long as he stays on as a USC assistant.

But Lee said he’s focused on what he can control and is eager to get to work for the Gamecocks.

“My job is to serve Mark Kingston, do the very best job I can to help him as a head coach .... and that’s what I’m going to do,” Lee said. “My primary focus is to serve the head coach, to serve the players, to serve this program, to do the best job I can to make our program successful. And I’m gonna do that as long as they’ll allow me to do it.

“And obviously, like anybody, you’re gonna look at opportunities as they come about — if they come about. But if they don’t, that’s great. I’m gonna continue to control what I can control and be the very best coach that I can be in the role that I am in.”