South Carolina Athletics announce Beverly Smith will not return as head softball coach

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - Beverly Smith will not return as University of South Carolina’s softball coach, Gamecocks Athletics Director Ray Tanner announced today.

This past season South Carolina finished 36-24 overall, 8-16 in SEC play and concluded its season in the NCAA Durham Regional. The team was ranked as high as 17th in national polls, finishing the regular season with a No. 27 NCAA RPI Ranking.

Since softball became an NCAA Championship in 1982, South Carolina’s softball program has been to 24 NCAA Regionals, winning five regional titles and advancing to the College World Series three times, the latest in 1997.

Smith was named Carolina’s softball coach on July 15, 2010. In her 14 seasons as the program’s head coach, the Gamecocks had a 461-323 (.588) overall record and a 102-219 (.318) mark in the Southeastern Conference. Smith coached two NFCA All-Americans, 10 All-SEC and 15 All-Region players. Her 461 wins at South Carolina are second in school history, behind Hall of Fame coach Joyce Compton’s 951 victories.

Under Smith, South Carolina went to the post-season nine times, advancing to a Super Regional in 2018: the best finish in Smith’s tenure. The former coach finished that season with a 49-17 overall mark and a third-place finish in the SEC with a 15-9 mark.

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