Shane Beamer says win vs. Oklahoma was ‘extra special’ for him

Shane Beamer admitted South Carolina’s win over Oklahoma was extra special for him as a coach.

Beamer didn’t want to elevate one game above another, but coming from Oklahoma, it was an interesting dynamic to go back to his old school and get a win in the SEC. He coached at Oklahoma from 2018-20 before coming to South Carolina ahead of the 2021 season.

But it had to be extra sweet when Beamer looked up at the scoreboard and South Carolina won 35-9.

“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t extra special coming back to a place that I have so many amazing memories at, personally,” Beamer said postgame. “The time I came here, you know, not to get sappy as a dad, but we moved here and we had a, I guess, what year was that? So we had a nine year old daughter and a young son when we moved here, and now that nine year old daughter is driving and taking the PSAT, and the son is criticizing coaching decisions and things like that. 

“So I think back to them how little they were when we were here, and the great memories we had, without a doubt, and just really grateful and appreciative for my time here. There’s so many awesome people here in Oklahoma.”

The offense did its thing, but South Carolina’s defense scored twice in the first quarter to balloon the lead to 21-0 after 15 minutes. Beamer’s team cruised from there.

“I mean, there’s just so many cool memories here, professionally and personally, so certainly it’s extra special coming back,” Beamer said. “But whether I had coached here or not, this would have been like one of the more special wins in my time here, because of the way that our guys played, the way they responded coming off a bitter disappointment last week and then just came right back to work and got better this week. That’s what makes it even more special.”

The “bitter disappointment” was South Carolina’s 27-25 loss to Alabama last week, just missing out on a massive upset. But the Gamecocks bounced back in a big way.

Next up? Three straight games against ranked opponents: No. 14 Texas A&M, No. 25 Vanderbilt and No. 21 Missouri.

Beamer and South Carolina will savor this one though.