Creighton baseball announces hire of former South Carolina coach Mark Kingston

Editor's note: This story has been updated with confirmation by Creighton that it has hired Mark Kingston.

Former South Carolina baseball coach Mark Kingston did not remain on the market long following his firing by the Gamecocks.

Kingston was fired by South Carolina on June 3. Less than two weeks later, Creighton confirmed his hiring a day after Kendall Rogers of DI Baseball reported he was set to be hired by the university. The Gamecocks filled their position earlier this week by hiring former LSU coach Paul Mainieri.

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"I am thrilled to welcome Mark, his wife Letitia, and the rest of his family to Creighton and the Omaha community," Creighton athletics director Marcus Blossom said in a release. "Mark is an excellent baseball coach that has had success at every stop along his coaching journey. He'll be a great fit coaching alongside coach Servais in the 2025 season.

"We are not only excited about the upcoming season, but also the future of Creighton Baseball as Mark will assume the head coaching role for the 2026 season and beyond. Creighton Baseball has a long history of outstanding coaches and Mark will continue their legacy of success."

South Carolina parted ways with Kingtson following a 37-25 season and a 13-17 SEC record. James Madison eliminated the Gamecocks in the Raleigh Regional on June 2 in the 2024 NCAA Baseball Tournament. Kingston was fired the next day.

Kingston, 54, led the Gamecocks to a 217-155 overall record and 83-96 mark in the SEC over his seven seasons in charge. He owns a career record of 490-335-1 with stops at Illinois State (2014-10), South Florida (2015-17) and South Carolina (2018-24). Kingston led the Bulls to a pair of NCAA regional appearances in his three years there and was an assistant coach for the Miami 2001 national championship team.

Creighton head coach Ed Servais is set to retire following the 2025 season. It had been reported that the Blue Jays would hire an associate head coach/coach-in-waiting to join the staff under Servais, which Creighton confirmed in its Monday release.

"I'd like to thank Marcus Blossom and the entire committee for all the work put in to bring in all the candidates as they were all very qualified," Servais said. "I'm glad to have Mark come on board. He has a ton of experience and it will be fun to work shoulder-to-shoulder with him. We look forward to filling out our staff. I think we are going to have some more experience coaches join us. The players are going to have a great experience in 2025 and beyond."

The Blue Jays are coming off a 35-17 overall season, including 7-13 in Big East play. Their last NCAA baseball tournament appearance was in 2019, and the program's only College World Series appearance came in 1991, despite being located in the same city as the CWS in Omaha, Nebraska.