Shane Beamer shares emotional message after South Carolina clinches bowl eligibility

South Carolina made a bold move this offseason, one that many tabbed as ill-advised, replacing former head coach Will Muschamp with Shane Beamer, who had most recently served as Oklahoma’s assistant head coach/tight ends coach.

Beamer had never served as a head coach prior to his arrival at South Carolina; certainly not at the Power Five level, but not even at the Group of Five level. He had only held assistant-coaching roles since graduating from Virginia Tech in 1999. One of the strongest cases for Beamer’s hire, an intangible mark on his resume: he’s the son of College Football Hall of Fame coach Frank Beamer, the longtime Virginia Tech coach, who won four ACC titles over his career at the helm.

People mocked and ridiculed the hire. News outlets rated him as the 14th-best head coach in the SEC, ranking him dead last in the conference. Nearly a year after his hiring, Beamer has South Carolina bowl eligible for the first time since 2018, notching victories over heavily-favored teams in Florida and Auburn, and is a legitimate candidate — perhaps even the favorite — to win SEC Coach of the Year. Beamer grew emotional in his postgame press conference following South Carolina’s 21-17 win over Auburn.

“I told you guys two weeks ago (after the Florida win) it was a great night for South Carolina,” Beamer said, choking up. “I didn’t know two weeks later it was going to be even better.”

Beamer’s message to his players was similar, and again, he choked up while delivering a postgame speech in the locker room.

“That was big boy, SEC football. We got that thing to the fourth quarter, and you never flinched. I am —,” Beamer said, before choking up and struggling through the rest of his message. “I’m so proud of you guys.”

Proud. pic.twitter.com/OJj0UEd3J4

— Gamecock Football (@GamecockFB) November 21, 2021

Judging by the reaction from South Carolina’s locker room, Beamer’s first season at the helm sure seems to have been met with open arms. He’s far exceeded expectations, and he’s done so despite some miraculous obstacles. South Carolina’s quarterback, sophomore Luke Doty, entered the season as the presumed starter after starting three games in 2020. But he only started five games before suffering a season-ending injury, and South Carolina may not have had a position group more thin than quarterback.

In Doty’s absence, Beamer first turned to Zeb Noland, a graduate assistant-turned-walk-on who came to South Carolina with no intentions of playing. A transfer from North Dakota State, Noland traded his whistle in for cleats and did a solid job — however, he too suffered a season-ending meniscus injury.

Once again, after Noland’s injury, Beamer called upon an FCS transfer at quarterback. While Jason Brown may not have been a former graduate assistant, the redshirt senior quarterback has an equally unlikely path, having arrived at South Carolina after transferring from St. Francis.

Time and time again, Beamer has been challenged in his tenure at South Carolina. And he’s answered the calls.