Shane Beamer opens up about 'fantastic relationship' with Dabo Swinney

Shane Beamer and Dabo Swinney have known each other for years, dating back to long before Beamer landed the Gamecocks head coaching job.

The two had a strong relationship when Beamer took over at South Carolina, and they continue to now. Beamer opened up about his relationship with the Clemson head coach when he joined WCCP on Thursday.

“I would say the relationship is fantastic,” Beamer said. “We’re both competitors. I know he wants to beat my brains in when we play each other in football and on the recruiting trail, and the feeling and vice versa. But there’s a great – I hope he would say the same – a great respect level. I know I do for him.”

South Carolina and Clemson have split the two meetings with Beamer as a head coach. The Tigers won in Columbia in Beamer’s first season in 2021, before South Carolina stunned Clemson and ended the Tigers’ 40-game home winning streak last November.

Beamer talked to Swinney as he was going through the process of trying to land the Gamecocks job, and they still communicate from time-to-time.

“He’s been someone that’s been very good to me whenever I have questions, or when I first got the job, him being willing to reach out,” Beamer said. “Our wives are close. My wife just told me last night she had gotten a gift for Kathleen [Swinney] that she was going to send her as well. So wives talk, and I think a lot of him. I consider him a very good friend.”

While Beamer and Swinney respect each other, they’re also ultra competitive. Beamer has been a part of several rivalries during his coaching career, whether it be at Mississippi State, Tennessee, Georgia, Oklahoma or Virginia Tech. The South Carolina-Clemson rivalry is the best and most intense one Beamer has been around. But there’s still an excellent respect level there.

“It’s a competitive rivalry. I’ve coached in a lot of different programs and I’ve never been a part of a rivalry that’s as fierce – 365 days a year, in all sports — as this one is,” Beamer said. “But he’s somebody that has done it the right way for a long time, and I know he’s going to do things the right way in his program. And hopefully he feels the same about ours, as well. And I’d say I don’t know if we necessarily talk regularly, but I’ll certainly call him up and just check in from time-to-time and talk. And vice versa.”