The South Carolina baseball coaching search entered a new phase Thursday as two fresh names surfaced in what has been a fluid and unpredictable process. While new athletic director Jeremiah Donati continues conducting due diligence, the rumor mill is spinning — and not every name coming out of it deserves equal weight.
Here’s where things actually stand.
The New Names: Real Candidates Or Noise?
Skylar Meade — The Surprise Entry
The name nobody saw coming is Troy head coach Skylar Meade, surfaced Thursday morning on a local radio program. On paper, the South Carolina connection is real — Meade served as South Carolina’s pitching coach from 2018 through 2021 Wikipedia before taking the Troy head coaching job in 2022. He knows the program. He knows the culture. He knows Columbia.
But context matters. Meade has compiled a 180-119 record at Troy — a respectable run at the Sun Belt level. However, Troy is currently hosting a Super Regional after barely sneaking into the tournament as one of the last four teams in. That run is impressive, but it doesn’t automatically vault a coach to the top of a Power Four search, especially one as high-profile as South Carolina’s.
The honest assessment: Meade is a long shot. His history with the program gives him name recognition in the fanbase, but the résumé gap between him and the frontrunner is significant. A lot would have to break in an unusual direction for this hire to materialize.
Scott Forbes — The UNC Wildcard
The more intriguing — and more surprising — new entry is North Carolina head coach Scott Forbes, whose name was surfaced through reporting from the Keeping It Heel outlet. Forbes has compiled a 248-115-1 record as North Carolina’s head coach since taking over in 2021 , winning two ACC Tournament titles and ACC Coach of the Year honors in 2024. His 2026 Tar Heels are currently 48-11-1 and ranked No. 4 nationally, having won their Regional and currently hosting a Super Regional.
Those are elite numbers. Forbes is one of the better coaches in college baseball, full stop.
The problem? Getting him out of Chapel Hill would be extraordinarily difficult. Forbes has deep roots at North Carolina, having first joined the staff as an assistant in 1999, serving as pitching coach from 2006 through 2020, and then ascending to the head coaching role in 2021. He is, for all practical purposes, a North Carolina lifer — and his team is still alive in the postseason right now, which means any formal conversations would be complicated by timing alone.
The more plausible read on this development: Forbes’ name entering the conversation serves him more than it serves South Carolina. Programs in this situation often find their name attached to searches as leverage — a way to accelerate contract conversations with their current employer. Expect North Carolina to respond accordingly.
The Frontrunner: Still Schnall, Despite The Noise
Nothing that emerged Thursday changes the fundamental reality of this search. Kevin Schnall has been the frontrunner since the moment Paul Mainieri departed, checking every meaningful box — a proven winner, deep ties to the state for recruiting purposes, and experience navigating the modern landscape of NIL and the transfer portal.
His public statements have been careful and consistent. “I know there’s a lot of rumors out there, but I have not spoken to the University of South Carolina regarding its baseball head coaching position,” Schnall told reporters. “South Carolina is an elite program that’s obviously going to be a job that a lot of coaches will be very interested in, because of the commitment and the rich tradition of that program.”
When Coastal’s season ended, he was equally measured. “I’ve got a five-year contract at Coastal. I’m the head baseball coach at Coastal Carolina. Can’t stress it enough,” he told reporters in Tallahassee.
That language is deliberate. Schnall is not closing any doors — he’s simply not opening them publicly while the process plays out. The contractual reality is also worth noting: if Schnall were to leave Coastal before June 30, 2026, the buyout would be $600,000. That’s a real number, but not an insurmountable one for an athletic department making a program-defining hire. His loyalty to Coastal — 21 years as a player, assistant, and head coach — may be the most genuine obstacle remaining.
The Bottom Line
Thursday’s update added volume to the conversation without fundamentally changing the direction of it. Meade is a sentimental name with a thin case. Forbes is an elite coach who almost certainly isn’t leaving a Top 5 program mid-postseason for a rebuild. And Schnall remains exactly where he has been since March: the best fit, the most accomplished candidate, and the most logical conclusion to a search that Donati needs to close before the transfer portal window shuts on June 30.
The new names are worth monitoring. But don’t let them distract from what this search has pointed toward from the beginning.
