Meyers returning to USC as pitching coach

COLUMBIA -- South Carolina's new pitching coach is South Carolina's old pitching coach.

Jerry Meyers will be introduced -- re-introduced, really -- at a news conference early this week, multiple sources said Saturday.

Meyers was the Gamecocks' pitching coach from 1997-2004, when he left to become the head coach at Old Dominion. Meyers was 167-158 in six seasons with the Monarchs.

Meyers was part of South Carolina's three consecutive trips to Omaha, from 2002-2004. He worked with, among others, SEC pitcher of the year Kip Bouknight.

That was of some interest recently, since Bouknight was also being considered for the USC job.

Gamecocks coach Ray Tanner also spoke with current Louisville and former North Carolina pitching coach Roger Williams and current Oakland scout and former Wake Forest pitching coach Michael Holmes.

Current North Carolina pitching coach Scott Forbes was also a candidate, though he never formally interviewed.

Meyers, 45, was at one point a strong candidate, but talk of him returning had cooled. Some thought Meyers might be close to signing an extension that would have kept him at ODU.

Instead, he's coming back to Columbia.

Meyers is replacing Mark Calvi, who left two weeks ago to become the head coach-in-waiting at South Alabama. After a year as the top assistant, Calvi will become that school's head coach. Calvi helped form a staff this past season that finished with a 3.45 ERA, the best in the SEC, on the way to the national championship.

Reach Travis Haney at thaney@postandcourier.com, check out the Gamecocks blog at postandcourier.com/blogs/gamecocks.