When Shane Beamer was 12 years old during a 1989 Virginia Tech game, his father had to call a doctor; since then, he has known mental pressure can cause dangerous physical damage. That’s why, after taking over as head coach at South Carolina, he brought a culture of care and, in early 2026, made a structural change to his staff. But why is taking care of players’ mental health so essential in the era of NIL and the portal?

“Used to, if I asked a player, ‘Why do you play football?’ Why are you here?’ More often than not it was gonna be because I love the game,” said Beamer during his Tuesday appearance on Sports Zone with Claire Foley. “Now, more often than not, probably half the answers you’re going to hear, ‘I’ve got to provide for my family,’ and that’s heavy.”

With the arrival of NIL, players’ connection with the game becomes transactional. It even adds a complex layer to players’ mindsets, providing immediate income to help their families. But when a 19- or 20-year-old athlete views their on-field performance as a direct threat to their family’s financial survival, that can cause unprecedented mental burdens and even lead to physical damage.

That’s why Shane Beamer and his staff took a mental well-being approach this season to create a safety net against the heavy mental burden players face. He brought in Marius Aleksa as the program’s director of process development. But he won’t act as a distant consultant for the Gamecocks. The mental performance coach is a regular position coach in South Carolina. He remained present in team meetings and practices to help athletes build sharper processes.

“I was like, if he [Aleksa] can work with the performance aspect of people who are literally risking their lives for our country,” said Beamer. “He can sure as heck work with 18-, 19-year-old football players. If it helps LaNorris (Sellers) make a great throw—whatever it is, we all have our processes. And (Aleksa) is really good at just helping guys with the processes of stuff.”

Before joining South Carolina, Aleksa was a mental performance coach in the U.S. Army Special Warfare Center and the MLB. This is why Beamer’s confident in the mental performance coach. But which incident worked as a catalyst to make the South Carolina head coach realize that in 2026, his team’s mental well-being should be taken care of for better on-field performance?

In 1989, his father, Frank Beamer, the legendary Virginia Tech coach, suffered chest pain from stress during a game, which led to hospitalization. At that time, young Beamer realized the mental pressure couldn’t be ignored. However, that’s not the trigger point behind appointing Aleksa in South Carolina.

Shane Beamer’s true catalyst for hiring a mental performance coach

In 2025, following a 3-6 record during the Gamecocks’ second bye week, Shane Beamer realized players’ mistakes weren’t just strategic. Obviously, their mistakes led South Carolina to a disappointing season, but that poor physical performance was a result of the mental pressure created by outside noise, media scrutiny, and all that.

“I remember saying to myself, like, ‘That’s not him. Something’s going on in there for that guy not to make that play,'” said Beamer ahead of their game against Texas A&M last season. “Just some of the mistakes we made, and ultimately that’s on me. But just some of the mistakes we made mentally and physically by older guys, I just said to myself, every professional team, I feel like, has some sports performance-type coach.”

Following that, Beamer hired Aleksa. Now, we will see how fruitful this addition is for South Carolina so they do not repeat the errors that led to a 4-8 season in 2025. But the head coach is confident about their 2026 success.

“I hate that we’ve gone through this. I hate it for the seniors that don’t come back. But I can one billion percent promise you this. When we have a hell of a season in 2026 and when I’m doing this press conference after the Clemson game next year,” said Beamer. “We’re going to look back at this season and say, ‘it suc-ed going through it, but because of what we went through in ’25, it led us to what we just did in ’26.'”