Shane Beamer calls relationship with Texas high schools 'huge'

South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer recently met with the Texas High School Coaches’ Association. The THSCA is the “principle advocate and leadership organization” for high school football coaches in Texas and it has thousands of members.

While speaking there, Beamer opened up about the relationship he and South Carolina have with Texas high schools.

“Yeah, it’s huge,” Shane Beamer said. “We’ve got two players on our team from the state of Texas and there’s direct flights into Columbia, South Carolina, into Charlotte, which is close to us as well. So, from a recruiting standpoint, it’s really beneficial.”

Despite South Carolina and Texas not being particularly close together, Beamer emphasized that the state is important to the Gamecocks in recruiting. That’s particularly true, given that the Texas Longhorns are joining the Texas A&M Aggies in the SEC, giving South Carolina more chances to play in the state.

“It’s an honor to be out here, to be asked to speak here, because of the respect that I have for the high school coaching in this state and what high school football means in the state of Texas. So, it really is an honor to be out here. When I was asked, I didn’t hesitate. And we’re a program that’s — a lot of excitement and a lot of energy about our program right now and that’s resonating not just in the Southeast but across the country as well.”

Ultimately, recruiting is largely about relationships. While speaking to the high school coaches in Texas, Beamer was working to build on older relationships while making new ones.

“So, to be able to get out here and catch up with coaches that I knew when I recruited this area at Oklahoma or coaches who have been out to visit us in Columbia has been really fun to do today.”

Shane Beamer shared the key to South Carolina taking the next step

In his first couple of seasons at South Carolina, Shane Beamer and the Gamecocks have exceeded many people’s expectations. However, he’s still looking to take the next step in Columbia.

“What we’ve talked about since January is there should be no complacency in our program. We went from two wins to seven wins to eight wins. So we’ve done some great things. But we’ve got a lot to improve on as well,” Beamer said.

“We haven’t done a good enough job running the ball, we haven’t done a good enough job of stopping the run. We’ve got to be better there for us to take the next step. Two years in a row we’ve been last in the SEC in giveaways. No offense in this conference has turned the ball over more than we have the last two seasons. That’s embarrassingly bad. So we’ve got to correct that first of all as one of the many things. There’s a lot of areas to improve. And that’s what we’ve just challenged our coaches and players [to do] since we came back in January.”