There is a certain orange-clad soccer coach in Upstate who reached out to Shane Beamer shortly after he took over the South Carolina Gamecocks.
During this interview with DawgNation, Beamer acknowledged that he and Clemson’s coach Dabo Swinney know each other well, but it seems that there is no animosity between the two. In fact, your relationship is anything but contentious.
“A lot to have a relationship with Dabo Swinney”Said Beamer. “In fact, he was one of the first people to come to me when I got this job. We’ve talked two or three times since then.
“We are competitors. We are rivals. But he is the same person – he was Clemson’s recruiting coordinator when I was in South Carolina as (an assistant coach). We kind of got to know each other during that time. “
In addition, they have a mutual friend Woody McCorvey, who has worked as an administrator at Clemson since Swinney took over as head coach in 2009. McCorvey and Beamer worked together in Tennessee and the state of Mississippi.
“We have some that we both deeply love Woody McCorvey it had as much of an impact on me as anyone in this profession, and I think Dabo would say the same thing, ”said Beamer. “Just knowing how I feel about Coach McCorvey and how Coach McCorvey feels about Dabo and vice versa, we are certainly connected from that point of view.”
South Carolina and Clemson are scheduled to renew their rivalry next November at the Williams-Brice Stadium. The 2020 game at Clemson was canceled because the SEC would not allow its teams to escalate opponents outside the conference.
“(Swinney) is a genuinely good person,” said Beamer. “Yes, we are rivals and competitors and we will try to defeat each other’s brains on the football field and all that, but you can still be grateful for where you are and treat people the right way and he has been very good to me since that I started this work, for sure. ”
South Carolina and Clemson meet on November 27. Gamecocks have not beaten Tigers since they met in Columbia in 2013.