Coastal Carolina University named Chris Lemonis its seventh head baseball coach on Thursday, bringing a Myrtle Beach native with a national championship on his resume back to the Grand Strand. Chance Miller announced the hire the same day, giving the Chanticleers a coach whose career has been built on postseason runs and one title at the highest level of college baseball.

Lemonis arrives with 373 career wins over 11 seasons as a head coach at Indiana and Mississippi State, plus six NCAA Tournament appearances and two trips to the College World Series in that role. He has been part of 18 NCAA Tournament appearances and five College World Series trips overall during his coaching career, a track record that made him one of the most experienced names available for a program that wants to stay among the sport’s relevant teams.

“I am incredibly honored and humbled to be named the head baseball coach at Coastal Carolina University,” Lemonis said. “This opportunity means a great deal to my family and me.” He added that he grew up in Myrtle Beach and that his wife, Jill, is a Coastal Carolina graduate, a detail that gives the move a homecoming feel as much as a hiring-news feel.

That pedigree comes with a sharp edge. Lemonis won the 2021 NCAA National Championship at Mississippi State, the first national title in that program’s history, and also delivered the 2019 SEC regular-season championship and the 2021 SEC Tournament title. But Mississippi State reached only three NCAA Tournaments during his seven seasons there, a reminder that even a coach with a trophy can leave behind a mixed ledger when the standard is sustained postseason consistency.

Chance Miller said Lemonis knows what it takes to get to Omaha and to win there, and called him a championship-winning coach who understands what Coastal Carolina baseball means to the university, its fans and the region. Lemonis said Coastal Carolina has established itself as one of the premier programs in college baseball and that he cannot wait to get to Conway and get to work competing for championships. The next question is how quickly he settles in, because the hire is now done and the roster, staff and immediate direction are the pieces still waiting to be set.