New contract approved for South Carolina’s Mark Kingston. Here are the details

South Carolina is set to extend head baseball coach Mark Kingston’s contract.

The governance committee of USC’s board of trustees approved a two-year extension for Kingston on Friday afternoon, and it is expected to be finalized by the full board later in the the day.

With the extension, Kingston’s contract will run through the 2027 season, and he’ll make $725,000 per year, which is a raise over the $600,000 annual compensation he made under his previous contract.

Hired before the 2018 season, Kingston is coming off a 42-21 season with the Gamecocks — his best record at USC. Led by Jack Mahoney, Cole Messina and Ethan Petry, the Gamecocks hosted a regional in Columbia and advanced to a super regional against Florida in Gainesville.

In his six years at the helm, Kingston, 53, has compiled a 180-130 (.581) record and has led the Gamecocks to three NCAA regional appearances and two super regionals.

“He had a really good year,” USC athletic director Ray Tanner told The State earlier this summer. “And for a majority of the season, he had one of the top four or five teams in the country, a really good lineup. ... I thought it was certainly a bounce-back from the year before in a good way. It was a quality team.”

There were rumblings of a possible coaching change after the injury-marred 2022 season, when the Gamecocks suffered their first losing season since 1996. But Kingston tapped the transfer portal and spearheaded a massive turnaround for USC, which got off to the team’s best start since 1975 and ranked as high as No. 3 in the country.

Kingston was last extended in 2021, with the Gamecocks signing him through the 2025 season and maintaining his $600,000 per year salary. At the time, Tanner said he thought it was important for coaches to have four years under contract “to be effective” on the recruiting trail. Friday’s extension ensures that Kingston will be under contract for a full recruiting cycle.