Mark Kingston enters sixth year with more than just winning in mind
Mark Kingston has seen it all during his tenure at South Carolina.
His team came up one win short of going to Omaha in his first season. He watched a promising 2020 season stripped away by COVID-19. He helped his squad host a regional a year later. Most recently, he helmed the Gamecocks’ first losing season in more than a quarter of a century.
While he won’t speak about himself in third person, Kingston believes he’s continually evolving as a coach.
“There’s no question that I’m a different coach now than I was maybe five years ago when I got here,” he said. “I’ve always thought my number one priority was the relationship with the players and all that, but as I’ve kind of looked at myself in the mirror, I’m doing much more of that than I ever have.”
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Experiencing a losing season was something unfamiliar to Kingston. Since his first year as a head coach at Illinois State in 2010, he’s only had one other losing season in his career. He led South Florida to a 24-33 record in 2016, sandwiched between two regional appearances.
When he was a young coach, Kingston believed winning games would be the difference in keeping his job. That has since changed. He’s realized there’s more to coaching than just the wins and losses.
“I am 100 percent all in on just make sure you do right by the players. Make sure you’re giving them what they need, providing the structure, the environment, the relationships that they need and then the rest will take care of themselves,” Kingston said. “Young coaches always say that and they talk the talk but now that I’m 15 years into my head coaching career, I’m all in on that 100 percent. I will let the chips fall where they may but my focus is on serving the needs of our coaches and players to make sure that everything is where it needs to be and then the results will take care of themselves.”
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During the fall, Kingston harped on bonding with his players and coaches. One instance was when the team went to Fort Jackson three times. There, they went through rigorous workouts. But they came away with much more than that.
“I thought the guys really got a good feel for the camaraderie that’s required and the teamwork that’s required and supporting your teammates,” Kingston said. “That’s really been a big thing. I think this team really rallies around just supporting each other, being there for each other, problem-solving together.”
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There’s a lot to like about this year’s squad that Kingston has constructed. He couldn’t help but gush over the talent on the field.
“I just think we have a lot of good players, a lot of proven players, a lot of older and more experienced players. I think guys who have been in situations where they’ve had to prove themselves and they’ve done that. Whether it’s in this program or other programs at high levels,” he said.
“We also have some very talented new guys that have really held their own so far for freshmen. So I just feel really good that it’s going to be a team that’s tough to pitch to. It’s going to have a left-right balance. It’s going to have a speed-power balance and we’ll take tough at-bats up and down the lineup.”
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When it comes down to it, there will be more to judge Kingston on than just personnel. There’s a real appetite for winning as the Gamecocks will try to get back to the College World Series for the first time since 2012.
After watching last season put into a flux by way of injuries, Kingston believes there’s a chip on the team’s shoulders.
“It’s hard to get a glimpse of what we really were last year for obvious reasons,” he said. “I think we’ve got a lot of guys that came back but also guys that have gotten better. … They just want to show people who we really are.”
