Patrick DiMarco, who starred at the University of South Carolina and returned to his alma mater in 2021 to join the first-year staff of coach Shane Beamer, has transitioned out of coaching.
DiMarco, who spent 10 years in the NFL after his standout-career with the Gamecocks and earned second-team NFL All-Pro honors in 2015 with the Atlanta Falcons, had served in an analyst and football relations role with Beamer.
DiMarco is shifting into a Name, Image & Likeness-centered role in which he will help student-athletes with potential earning opportunities as well as continue to help with former player and NFL relations.
The move represents a serious commitment from USC athletics in the NIL space.
"A law was passed in the state of South Carolina July 1 which allows the university to help facilitate deals," said DiMarco, who with wife, Melissa, have four young children. "Other states had that luxury over the past year, but it big for us to get that passed as a state and kind of level the playing field.
"Instead of agents and other folks outside doing these deals, it can be us that are able to do it and the student-athletes trust us and believe in us. It's big from a university standpoint. You can’t use NIL for recruiting, but you can use scenarios and other deals that have been done to show what’s available. It's great source for that to come through."
DiMarco, who freely admits as a former fullback and nephew of PGA player Chris DiMarco he might have landed an area country club partnership and a grub deal with Village Idiot Pizza during his Gamecocks' days, now has that decade of NFL experience on which to rely. In addition to a Pro Bowl selection, DiMarco also played in a Super Bowl with the Falcons.
He intends to use that background to help all Gamecocks' athletes.
"With my experience playing, being in the NFL and playing here, I'm fortunate to have such a network of people, a network of companies that I know to dip into to hopefully get some deals done for our guys and hopefully further those businesses as well," said DiMarco, who touted Dawn Staley's South Carolina women's basketball powerhouse as an ideal NIL partner. "I did some smaller deals as a player, some Play60 events, local grocery stores, but from a PR/CR standpoint, that can translate into the college word a lot. Our players want to get involved in the community both from a business standpoint to a giving back standpoint."
DiMarco retired from the NFL in January 2021 and then quickly joined Beamer’s inaugural staff just six weeks later.
A Florida native, DiMarco turned his sturdy Gamecocks’ career under Steve Spurrier into a decade-long run in the NFL, spending time with the Chargers’, Chiefs’, Falcons’ and Bills’ franchises.
South Carolina just recently announced a new NIL venture with Fanatics for its entire football team, as well as its women’s soccer and volleyball squads. The program allows fans to directly purchase T-shirts with the name and number of their favorite athletes, with the players then earning royalties from the sales of those shirts.
Presently, DiMarco shared that USC is working to finalize collective NIL deals for its entire offensive line as well as the Gamecocks' secondary. Additionally, he noted that USC has "created our own, really have been innovative in creating our own platform for deals, and there are a couple other strategic ways to make sure every athlete gets a piece of the pie and different things like that. It's an exciting time."
Though coaches long have had freedom to endorse outside commercial interests, both in concert and separate from their respective schools, DiMarco said his former college head man -- The Ol' Ball Coach -- could have cashed in.
"Coach Spurrier would have crushed it," DiMarco said. "A visor company, Coors Original, Blue Moon; any deal under the sun."