# Mark Kingston (baseball)

Mark Kingston (born May 16, 1970) is an American college baseball coach who is currently the associate head coach at Creighton University. He was previously the head coach at the University of South Carolina, the University of South Florida and Illinois State University.

## Playing career

Kingston played high school baseball at Potomac High School in Dumfries, Virginia where he was a Collegiate Baseball Top 50 recruit, and was drafted out of high school by the New York Yankees in the 35th round of the 1988 MLB Draft. Choosing instead to play college ball at North Carolina, he played four seasons, helping the team to an Atlantic Coast Conference regular season title and berth in the 1989 College World Series in his freshman year. He was drafted in the 45th round of the 1992 MLB Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers. After playing rookie ball in the Brewers organization, he played four additional seasons in the Chicago Cubs organization, reaching Class-AA, and one season with the independent league Grays Harbor Gulls.

## Coaching career

After his playing days were over, Kingston was hired as an assistant coach at Purdue. He was promoted to the top assistant position after two seasons, and then served one year at Illinois State. He then served two seasons at Miami (FL), where he helped guide the team to the 2001 College World Series title, produced two All-Americans, and saw 18 players sign professional contracts. He then moved to Tulane as recruiting coordinator, where six of his seven classes were ranked in the Top 25 nationally by Collegiate Baseball. The Green Wave reached the 2005 College World Series as the top seed, and earned academic honors in Omaha. In 2009, Kingston served as associate head coach at Illinois State before being elevated to the top job the following season.
Kingston was named the head coach at South Florida ahead of the 2015 season. Kingston coached at USF from 2015 to 2017 and led the Bulls to a pair of NCAA Regional appearances.
On June 30, 2017, Kingston was named the head baseball coach at South Carolina, becoming the 30th head coach in program history. Despite inheriting a team that failed to reach the postseason the year before, Kingston led the Gamecocks to an NCAA Regional crown and an NCAA Super Regional appearance in his first year at the helm. Kingston was relieved of his head coaching position on June 3rd, 2024.
On June 17, 2024, Kingston was named the associate head coach/head coach in waiting for Creighton. He will serve under Ed Servais, who will be going into his 22nd and final season as head coach of the Bluejays in 2025.

## Head coaching record

Statistics overview :
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason |
| Illinois State Redbirds (Missouri Valley Conference) (2010–2014) ||||||
| 2010 | Illinois State | 32–24 (.571) | 15–6 (.714) | T–1st | Louisville Regional |
| 2011 | Illinois State | 36–18 (.667) | 13–8 (.619) | 3rd | |
| 2012 | Illinois State | 33–19 (.635) | 10–9 (.526) | 4th | |
| 2013 | Illinois State | 39–19 (.672) | 16–5 (.762) | 1st | |
| 2014 | Illinois State | 33–22 (.600) | 10–11 (.476) | 5th | |
| Illinois State: | Illinois State: | 173–102 (.629) | 64–39 (.621) | | |
| South Florida Bulls (American Athletic Conference) (2015–2017) ||||||
| 2015 | South Florida | 34–26–1 (.566) | 13–11 (.542) | T–3rd | Gainesville Regional |
| 2016 | South Florida | 24–33 (.421) | 8–16 (.333) | T–7th | |
| 2017 | South Florida | 42–19 (.689) | 14–10 (.583) | T–3rd | Gainesville Regional |
| South Florida: | South Florida: | 100–78–1 (.561) | 35–37 (.486) | | |
| South Carolina (Southeastern Conference) (2018–2024) ||||||
| 2018 | South Carolina | 37–26 (.587) | 17–13 (.567) | 3rd (East) | Fayetteville Super Regional |
| 2019 | South Carolina | 28–28 (.500) | 8–22 (.267) | 5th (East) | |
| 2020 | South Carolina | 12–4 (.750) | 0–0 (.000) | (East) | Season canceled due to COVID-19 |
| 2021 | South Carolina | 34–23 (.596) | 16–14 (.533) | 4th (East) | Columbia Regional |
| 2022 | South Carolina | 27–28 (.491) | 13–17 (.433) | 5th (East) | |
| 2023 | South Carolina | 42–21 (.667) | 16–13 (.552) | 3rd (East) | Gainesville Super Regional |
| 2024 | South Carolina | 37–25 (.597) | 13–17 (.433) | 5th (East) | Raleigh Regional |
| South Carolina: | South Carolina: | 217–155 (.583) | 83–96 (.464) | | |
| Total: | Total: | 490–335–1 (.594) | | | |
| National champion   Postseason invitational champion   Conference regular season champion   Conference regular season and conference tournament champion  Division regular season champion  Division regular season and conference tournament champion  Conference tournament champion ||||||