Shane Beamer shares emotions surrounding return to Oklahoma

Shane Beamer is the second head coach to return to Norman this season with a visiting team in the SEC. That trip will bring back plenty for him as well ahead of South Carolina’s matchup with the Sooners.

Beamer spoke this week about his time at Oklahoma ahead of the game back there this weekend. He said there’d obviously be some sentiment there considering what that city and program meant to him for his three seasons on staff.

“I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t going to be emotions,” said Beamer. “I mean the hotel that we’ll be staying in is the hotel that I lived in for like the first three weeks until I found a temporary place to live…We’re staying in that hotel. The first time that my family and I ever went to Norman when I had taken the job is the hotel that we’re staying in.”

That same regard goes for all the people that Beamer worked alongside while at OU.

“I’m so appreciative of my time there. I’m thankful to Lincoln Riley for giving me an opportunity. Thankful for the great players that I was around. Made so many friends that we still, you know, keep in touch with, for sure,” said Beamer. “Then Joe Castiglione, the athletic director, was so good to me during my time there and really poured into me as an assistant coach that had goals of becoming a head coach. I can’t thank him enough for how he poured into me during my three years there. Joe Harris, the president, is just awesome. I mean I still get text messages from those guys, phone calls and whatnot.”

“Just really, really good people, friends for life that we made out there,” Beamer said.

Prior to becoming the head coach of the Gamecocks, Beamer was at Oklahoma from 2018 to 2020. He was an assistant working with their offense, specifically with the backs and tight ends, along with their special teams. In his time there, Oklahoma went 33-6 (.846) with three Big 12 Championships and two appearances in the College Football Playoff.

Being with Oklahoma, a program with their kind of history, meant a lot to Beamer in his coaching journey.

“I think the biggest thing for me? One, it was just a really cool three years being around a program with just such storied tradition,” said Beamer. “You know, right outside their stadium, across the field from the press box is where they’ve got – I guess they’re up to seven, eight Heisman Trophy statues. I mean, that’s eye-opening. Then you just see all the conference championships they’ve won – Big 8, Big 12, whatnot. So just a level respect for the tradition. That was really cool.”

“Two, being around so many legendary coaches. Barry Switzer lives three blocks from the football stadium. You’d see him around. Just being able to, like, see him around the football program. Coach Stoops was great to me during my time there. When I took this job, some of the advice that he gave me when I was coaching there about becoming a head coach for the first time? That made me better,” Beamer continued. “Then, I think, just being around Lincoln Riley. I think I know being around Lincoln Riley was really helpful for me because that was his, very much like when I was with Kirby at Georgia? When I was with Lincoln, that was his first, really, true year as the head football coach.”

Beamer knows that this is a work trip now that South Carolina and Oklahoma will meet in conference play. Still, that doesn’t take anything away from his time there in his last stop before leading a team of his own.

“There’ll be a lot of memories,” said Beamer. “The biggest thing for me is just the appreciation and gratitude I have for my time out there and the people that I was around.”