Coastal Carolina baseball lands national championship coach to lead program
Coastal Carolina has found its next baseball coach.
Former Mississippi State coach and South Carolina native Chris Lemonis will be the next Chanticleers coach, the school announced Thursday. Lemonis replaces Kevin Schnall, who left this week after two seasons to become the head coach at South Carolina. USC officially announced Schnall’s hire Wednesday.
Lemonis is a Myrtle Beach native who attended Socastee High School and played college baseball at The Citadel. He was part of The Citadel team that made it to the 1990 College World Series.
He led Mississippi State to the 2021 national championship and was at the Southeastern Conference school from 2018-15. He went 232-135 at MSU and had two College World Series appearances.
Lemonis was out of baseball this season.
“This opportunity means a great deal to my family and me,” Lemonis said in a school release. “Coastal has established itself as one of the premier programs in college baseball, and I am excited to build upon that tradition.”
Before MSU, Lemonis was head coach at Indiana and went 141-91-2 with the Hoosiers. He led Indiana to three NCAA Tournament appearances in four years.
Lemonis was one of several candidates mentioned for the opening. Fans on social media were making a case for assistant Chad Oxendine to be Schnall’s replacement.
Coastal Carolina is one of the top mid-major jobs and coming off two CWS appearances in the last 10 years, including winning it all in 2016. Lemonis will have his work cut out for him in replacing the roster, which is expected to lose ace pitcher Cam Flukey to Major League Baseball Draft. There have been six former Coastal players who have said they’ll transfer to South Carolina and play for Schnall.
This story was originally published June 11, 2026 at 4:24 PM.
