Shane Beamer explains how coaching affects family, learning from his father

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer spoke with Paul Finebaum after day two of SEC media days about how coaching affects your family. Beamer learned from a young age how people outside of a locker room talk about the head coach of a college football team as his own father, Frank Beamer, coached Virginia Tech.

Beamer explained that the lessons he learned from watching people talk about his dad have given him the ability to understand what his own children and wife go through while he’s in the middle of a season.

Shane Beamer on how coaching affects his family

While speaking on the Paul Finebaum Show on Tuesday, Beamer joked that he knew first-hand how hard it can be for a coach’s family to hear about their issues from strangers during their day-to-day life — having been around Virginia Tech before Frank Beamer found great success.

“I learned growing up the son of a college football coach, you’re in the limelight and you’re not gonna ever make everyone happy,” explained Beamer. “There’s so many blessings that we have because I’m in this position. There’s also, you realize that you’re in the public, you’re in the spotlight and I worry about it. Things are good right now for us, but my kids go to school — worrying about them hearing things like I did growing up when Virginia Tech struggled and whatnot.

“You know this, coaches are insulated. We lose the game and we go right back in the facility the next day and we go right back to work. We don’t hear the outside noise, it’s your family that you worry about. But you know, that’s part of it. It’s great life-lessons and teaching moments that I’m able to use for my children as well.

“It was awesome growing up the son of a college football coach and there was so many amazing moments that I got to experience as the son of the Murray State and then Virginia Tech coach that I wouldn’t have traded for anything.

“But the day I got my driver’s license and turned 16 years old, I can remember — this was when Virginia Tech was not Virginia Tech the way it ended up being, this was Virginia Tech coming off a two-win season in 1992. And I go in to get my driver’s license at the DMV, March of 1993, and I’m so excited to get this driver’s license and I can still see the guy to this day. I reach over the counter to my driver’s license and he holds onto the license and he says, ‘If you want to keep this thing, you tell your dad he better win some football games around here.’

Beamer laughed about the memory now, but admitted that it was a great learning experience for him. Virginia Tech finished the 1992 season with a 2-8-1 record under Frank Beamer, and the DMV worker likely believed his message helped as the Hokies went 9-3 in 1993.