It’s official: Beamer takes the reins at USC

Shane Beamer is the next head coach for the South Carolina Gamecocks football team, according to a release from the University’s athletic department. It has been widely reported that Beamer would take the helm, but it had not been made official until Sunday.

The search had been headed up by Director of Athletics, Ray Tanner. From the outset, Tanner had made it clear he was searching for an enthusiastic, young coach that would instill energy back into the program, “He has worked under some of the greatest coaches in college football and has taken those lessons to become one of the bright, young minds in the game. I believe Shane’s energy, enthusiasm, commitment and fondness for our school and program will be met favorably by our student-athletes, staff and fans.”

From USC’s release: Beamer, 43, has been an assistant coach at seven Football Bowl Subdivision schools for 21 seasons. During his career, he has coached in 17 bowl games, including a College Football Playoff National Championship Game, has posted 18 non-losing seasons, six of those with double-digit victories and his teams have won 62.5 percent of its games.

“I have been preparing for this moment my entire life,” said Beamer. “I am ready and excited to be the head football coach at the University of South Carolina. I am thankful to all the head coaches that I have worked for, the assistant coaches and student-athletes I have worked with. My family and I are thrilled to be coming back to Columbia and the state of South Carolina.”

Beamer has been a part of building programs throughout his career. He has been a part of three coaching staffs, where the head coach was in his first or second season at the school. He joined Lincoln Riley’s unit at Oklahoma in his second season, Kirby Smart’s program at Georgia in his first season and Sylvester Croom’s staff at Mississippi State in his first season.

He comes to Carolina from Oklahoma, where he has served as the assistant head coach for offense for the last three seasons. The Sooners led the nation in total offense, scoring offense and yards per play in 2018.

The Charleston, S.C. native, returns to one of his previous coaching stops, having been with the Gamecocks for four seasons (2007-10), coordinating special teams and coaching outside linebackers, as well as serving as recruiting coordinator during his last two seasons.

In 2009 at South Carolina, Beamer was nominated for the Frank Broyles Award, which goes annually to the nation’s top assistant coach. His special teams’ units recorded five blocked kicks that season, tying for the SEC lead and tying for the eighth-highest total in the nation. He also helped coach a defensive unit that ranked third in the SEC and 15th in the country in total defense, and second in the league and eighth in the country in passing defense.

As the Gamecocks’ recruiting coordinator, his 2009 class was ranked 12th-best by both Rivals and Scout, and the 2010 and 2011 classes were ranked in the Top 25.

During Beamer’s tenure as recruiting coordinator at Carolina, nine of his signees were selected in the NFL draft. Those include first round selection Stephen Gilmore (Buffalo Bills) and second round selections Alshon Jeffery (Chicago Bears) and D.J. Swearinger (Houston Texans). The Gamecocks all-time winningest quarterback, Connor Shaw, and rushing touchdown leader, Marcus Lattimore, were also in the 2010 class.

The son of Hall of Fame coach, Frank Beamer, he worked with his father as the running backs coach at Virginia Tech from 2011-14. In his first year, he coached David Wilson, who broke the Tech single-season rushing record and was named All-American and ACC Player of the Year and went on to become a first-round NFL draft selection by the New York Giants.