Paul Mainieri shares his goals for the players as he enters first year at South Carolina
One of the common phrases Paul Mainieri and his coaching staff have said is, “It’s not about us, it’s about them.”
As he steps into his new role as South Carolina’s head baseball coach, Mainieri is a players coach. And he knows just how to prepare his team for life after baseball and beyond.
Accordingly, Mainieri knows the pride and tradition that goes into wearing garnet and black. With a long history in coaching, he has big goals for his team.
“We are hoping to give you the best effort that we can. We’re going to wear that uniform with pride. We’re going to represent that university with class and dignity and if a player doesn’t want to do it, he’s just not going to be apart of the program. It’s that simple,” Mainieri said. “I want our player’s goal, I told him yesterday, ‘I only have one goal for every one of them and that’s for them individually to become the very best players they can be.'”
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Winning games and producing MLB stars is still something that Mainieri and his team will strive for. While leading his team, success for his players is always the standard.
“If that results in being an all-American or a first round draft choice, a big leaguer that’d be wonderful,” Mainieri said. “I’d be the happiest guy in the world, this school has produces an awful lot of major leaguers.”
However, Mainieri has other goals for his players too. Instilling pride in a program built on tradition is important to every Gamecock.
Nonetheless a career in the majors is not in store for every Gamecock. That’s just the reality of it. But as head coach, Mainieri wants to prepare his players for life beyond baseball.
“It’s not about me, it’s not about prestige, it’s not about publicity, it’s not about making money, it’s not about even winning games and the love of the game. It’s all about the players,” Mainieri said. “They don’t create baseball programs so that I can have a place to work or Ray Tanner have a place to work. They have them on college campuses so that gifted baseball players will have a place to develop their talents to their fullest potential and learn lessons that they will later on use in their lives so that they can become successful husbands, fathers and in whatever career fields they chose.”
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Numerous life lessons can come from baseball and be translated into real world situations. Whether it be handling struggle or facing adversity, there are lessons to be learned.
“But how our players deal with adversity, short-term adversity and how our players handle success with humility and knowing that at the end of the day you know what’s tomorrows’s a new day. The score starts 0-0 again and we got to turn the page and be ready to play each and every day,” Mainieri said.
