Shane Beamer details how NCAA change allowed promotions, new roles for South Carolina analysts

With the NCAA changing its rules around the number of countable coaches on the field during football practices and games, South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer saw an opportunity. Not really for him, so much as the array of then-analysts employed on staff.

Now that those analysts could be active participants during practices and games, Beamer sought to give them a bit of a title bump, he explained on the SEC coaches teleconference on Wednesday. And it wasn’t much more complicated than bestowing them titles as assistant position coaches and cutting them loose to work with the team during practices.

“When the rule changed over the summer, where those analysts could now coach, I gave all those analyst that in my mind deserved it, gave them a promotion, if you will, to whatever position they had worked with, I put the word ‘assistant’ in front of it,” Beamer said. “So we had three analysts on the defensive side of the ball, for example, they’re now the assistant defensive backs coach, the assistant D line coach and the assistant linebacker coach. And then we did the same thing on the offensive side of the ball. Wanted to help their careers, but two to reward them for a great job that they’ve done being involved in those positions the last couple years where they were, by rule, not allowed to coach.” 

And while these newly-minted assistant coaches are being tasked with a bit more work on the field during practices and games, they’ve quickly learned with a bigger title and slightly more pay often comes an overall increase in responsibility.

Whatever film study, scouting, self-scouting, or recruiting work that was already being done by those analysts didn’t leave their plates. But even with a slightly expanded workload, Beamer is hopeful giving these newly-minted assistants, many young, up-and-coming coaches in their own right, a bigger role will only serve to help propel their careers forward.

And along the way, the Gamecocks could be that much better for it.

“I would say they’re doing essentially the same thing other than now they’re allowed to coach on the field. Beforehand, the way the rule was, they weren’t allowed to coach,” Beamer said. “They could be, as our compliance office told us, they could be at a drill but they couldn’t be in the drill, actively involved. And now they are. So, I would say certainly say their responsibilities off the field are the same. But if anything, their responsibilities on the field have increased, where now our defensive coaches, our offensive coaches can split up and say, ‘Hey, I’m going to take half of this position group and I’m going to give the other half of the position group to the guy that was the analyst last season.’ And now he can legally go work with those guys and coach with those guys.

“So it’s been an extremely beneficial rule change and I’m certainly glad the NCAA decided to do that.”