Paul Mainieri came to South Carolina with two unique rules. He changed one, kept the other
While Paul Mainieri was sitting in Baton Rouge the past three years, golfing almost daily as he enjoyed retirement, his coaching buddies would call him up and go on and on about how lucky he was to not be coaching in the era of the transfer portal and NIL.
“I kind of took it as a challenge,” Mainieri said. “Everybody is telling me I picked the right time to get out. ... I wanted to see if my style of coaching can still work. And I think it can.”
After spending 15 years at LSU, Mainieri retired while battling health issues in 2021. Then South Carolina hired him this offseason to take over the Gamecocks baseball program. Now in the job, the 67-year-old Mainieri is balancing some of his long-held beliefs while loosening up on other rules that perhaps wouldn’t be as well-received in 2024.
We’re talking about facial hair.
All throughout Mainieri’s career, going back to when he was in his mid-20s coaching at St. Thomas University, he demanded his players be clean-shaven. Very George Steinbrener-esque. To Mainieri, it was a message to his players that it takes sacrifices to be a part of his team.
Upon taking the South Carolina job, that rule went out the window.
“This is kind of one of my adaptations,” he said. “I’m not gonna implement that rule. I just think it’s a little bit antiquated. And I need to show the players I’m hip now. I can text. I have a Twitter account. You don’t have to shave.”
Mainieri did not arrive at South Carolina only holding his team to these hard-and-fast, old-school demands. Some things, he’s always been lenient on — notably, how his players spend their Saturdays in the fall.
Mainieri said he’s never practiced on a Saturday in his entire coaching career.
“What are Saturday afternoons in the fall for? Football,” Mainieri said. “I want them to go have fun and be with their friends and just enjoy it.”
Yes, South Carolina does scrimmage against the Air Force Academy on Saturday, Oct. 26, but Mainieri only did that because it lines up with a USC football bye week.
“I believe in them being college kids and having a good time,” Mainieri said.
