His father’s shadow in the Hall of Fame looms, but Shane Beamer embraces that shadow and said on Monday at his introductory press conference as head coach of South Carolina that his father, Frank Beamer, would often be around the show. Gamecocks football game.
To this day, Shane Beamer still trusts his father’s advice, be it X’s and O’s and / or leadership, and he joked that the area’s great golf courses and Frank’s six grandchildren who now reside in the Carolinas would only guarantee that his father would be a settlement in Columbia.
“Whatever excuse we have to bring you here … I am very confident that you will see a lot around this program,” said Shane Beamer.
Not only that, but Shane hopes to bring his own version of “Beamer Ball” to the South Carolina show, a mantra that defined Frank’s legendary 29-year career at Virginia Tech.
“Beamer Ball may be copyrighted in Blacksburg,” said Shane, who played and trained with his father. “But when you talk about Beamer Ball, you talk about attack, you talk about the ability to score in attack, defense and special teams. That’s what I think of when someone talks about Beamer Ball.
“We may not use the term ‘Beamer Ball’ exactly, but playing that way and having that aspect as part of our program is certainly something that we are going to address.”
Shane Beamer, 43, takes over in South Carolina for Will Muschamp, who was fired with three games left in his fifth season in office. Only seven times in the school’s history has South Carolina won more than eight games in one season, four of them led by Steve Spurrier.
Beamer spent four seasons on the 2007-10 Spurrier team and was the recruitment coordinator for Gamecocks in 2009 and 2010, when they gave some of the best recruiting classes in the school’s history.
“When it comes to obstacles, I don’t see it that way. I just see great opportunities and great things ahead,” said Beamer. “The resources are here to enable us to succeed. I see no negative points … I have trained in so many places in my 21 years of career and this is a unique place in so many incredible ways. That is why my wife [Emily] and I really wanted to come back here because we know how special it is and what it can be. “
Beamer, currently Oklahoma’s assistant chief coach for the attack, plans to stay with the Sooners during the Big 12 championship game, and said he will have a dual role in the coming weeks.
“It’s very important for me to go back to Oklahoma and finish the season with these guys,” said Beamer. “I want to be loyal to these guys. I talked to our players [at South Carolina] about trust, communication and loyalty and I didn’t think it was fair to have this conversation with them and then let those guys dry in Oklahoma. “
Sources told ESPN that Beamer will receive a five-year contract that will pay him $ 2.75 million a year, in addition to incentives.
“I worked 10 years to get back to this place,” said Beamer. “The dream does not end here. It is just beginning.”
The Gamecocks lost 14 of their last 20 games under Muschamp before he was fired, and making South Carolina’s job even more difficult is how rival Clemson flourished under Dabo Swinney, winning two of the last four national championships. Clemson has won six consecutive wins against South Carolina. This is after the Gamecocks have won five in a row in the 2009-13 series and put together three consecutive seasons of 11 wins during that period.
Beamer, asked about the “Clemson problem”, was not backing down.
“You mentioned this program upstate,” said Beamer, taking care not to mention Clemson’s name. “They are certainly in a very good race now, but I have been here before, and we were in a very good race against these guys. It is a great challenge, and we will work every day in recruiting and in this facility to have a team from which we can be proud in the field.
“I certainly have respect for these guys [Clemson], but I’m looking forward to getting there and competing. I know that for sure. “
In taking his first coaching job, Beamer said that one of the main qualities he hopes to take from his father is his firmness and authenticity, regardless of the situation.
“People recognize authenticity and that is what we are going to be,” said Beamer.