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COLUMBIA, S.C. (WACH) –  After he was promoted Friday, new USC athletics director Ray Tanner spent his first day on the job doing the same for a member of his baseball staff.

Chad Holbrook was promoted to head baseball coach, Tanner said Monday. Holbrook replaces Tanner as coach,  after Tanner was named athletics director on Friday.

"We are fortunate to have Coach Holbrook as an integral part of our program," said Tanner. "He is an exceptional coach, recruiter and mentor for our players. The job he has done and continues to do is exemplary. He is one of the top coaches in the country and he is an outstanding ambassador for the University of South Carolina."

Holbrook recently completed his fourth season as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator for the South Carolina baseball program. Holbrook, served as hitting instructor, overseeing the Gamecock offense, including base running and the short game and was the third base coach. He also worked with the outfielders. Holbrook came to the Gamecock program in July of 2008 after serving 15 seasons as a member of the University of North Carolina coaching staff. Holbrook was recently honored as the 2011 ABCA/Baseball America Assistant Coach of the Year.

Considered by many college baseball fans as a tremendous evaluator of talent, Holbrook recently was named the No. 10 best recruiter in all of college sports by ESPNU & ESPN The Magazine in the publication's 2011 January edition. The list was put together in conjunction with three-dozen experts who were asked the question: Who are the top 20 recruiters in college sports? Holbrook was the only baseball coach on the list.

Holbrook's offensive prowess made an immediate impact on the South Carolina baseball program in just four seasons. His guidance was instrumental in helping the Gamecocks to back-to-back national championships in 2010 and 2011 at the College World Series as well as a national runner-up finish in 2012.

Holbrook helped in the development of two-time All-America Christian Walker, who led the Gamecocks in all three Triple Crown categories the last two years. He finished 2012 hitting .321 (77-for-240) with 11 homers and 55 RBI as well as a .450 on-base percentage and a .525 slugging percentage.  Walker was a fourth round selection by the Baltimore Orioles in the 2012 MLB Draft. Walker was named to the CWS All-Tournament team for a third time. He tied a CWS record for hits also in a career as he notched 28 that put him alongside Dustin Ackley of North Carolina  (2007-09), ironically also a player that Holbrook recruited and coached while in Chapel Hill.

Holbrook helped bridge together a new crop of Gamecocks in the 2012 season as he developed newcomers Tanner English, Grayson Greiner and Joey Pankake into SEC All-Freshman honorees. All three would factor into Carolina’s successful season. The group of newcomers was also rated the top recruiting class in the country in 2011 by Collegiate Baseball and No. 6 in the nation by Baseball America.

Holbrook's promotion into the top slot is no surprise to the Gamecock fans, who supported Tanner's promotion to Athletics Director after Tanner first interviewed for the job after the departure of  former athletics director Mike McGee retired in 2005. Other major baseball programs sought Holbrook to take over as their head coach, but each time, Holbrook declined and stayed at South Carolina.

(USC Sports Information contributed to this report.)