Shane Beamer reveals what impact Frank Beamer has on South Carolina's program
Shane Beamer is like father, like son as one of the two children of Frank Beamer. That’s specifically so on the field as head coaches in college football.
Beamer spoke about his relationship with and the impact of his dad on him during an appearance on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ on Friday. He said that he has taken more from him as his mentor than anyone else that he has worked with or been around in the game.
“I was very fortunate to grow up as his son, obviously still be his son, play for him in college. I coached with him. So so much of what I’m about as a coach is what I took from my dad philosophy-wise and things like that,” said Beamer. “If you spend a lot of time around our program, you probably feel more of a Virginia Tech vibe around our program than any of the other places that I’ve been.”
“I’ve worked with some awesome coaches and been very blessed to work for Hall of Famers – most recently Lincoln Riley and then Kirby Smart before him, Steve Spurrier and on and on and on,” Beamer said. “I’ve taken from all of those guys.”
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He as well as his staff at South Carolina, certainly one member of it, have noticed it too. They all see and hear the similarities between Beamer Sr. and Beamer Jr. in how he works each day.
“Yeah, totally,” said Beamer. “All the time. All the time, particularly on the field or things that I’ll say.”
“One of our assistant coaches, our defensive backs coach, Torrian Gray, played at Virginia Tech. Was a great defensive back for my dad in the mid-90s,” Beamer explained. ‘I’ll say things in staff meetings that I can just kind of look up at T-Gray and he looks back at me and he knows exactly where he had heard that before. I also catch him doing it as well. I hear him say things to the DBs that I know that my dad used to say when he was coaching.”
Frank Beamer is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame after nearly three decades at Virginia Tech. Over that time in Blacksburg, the Hokies went 238-121-2 (.662) as the school’s all-time winningest coach by far. It was the most successful span for the program in its history as they made 23 consecutive bowls to end his career, including an appearance in the national championship in 1999.
In that time, Shane spent the final five seasons of his dad’s career on staff with him. This was after he played for him for a half decade as a long snapper and receiver in the late 90s.
For all that, though, he started out with a record of 24-40-2 with no bowl appearances. That also taught Beamer to be thankful for winning whenever it came.
“I think the biggest thing with him is just learning, really. I saw at a young age he and it’s helped me now. Just understanding what a thin line it is between winning and losing,” said Beamer. “You know, for all my dad accomplished at Virginia Tech, it took until his seventh season for him to even go to a bowl game. In his fifth season, they had a losing record. Sixth season, they had a losing record. Then I think, in their seventh season, they really hit it and took off.”
“Just understanding that, man, there’s a thin line between winning and losing and always appreciate winning.”
Beamer is never going to balance himself alongside his father and what they’ve each done respectively. What he will do is depend on him and his knowledge with him still present in his life today.
“For me, it’s not comparing to him,” said Beamer. “Obviously, he’s here all the time. He’ll be here today, he’ll be here tomorrow obviously for the game.”
“I lean on him when I need to, without a doubt.”