Shane Beamer apologizes for in-game Title IX ceremony incident
South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer spent the first few minutes of his Sunday night teleconference addressing a situation that went viral Saturday afternoon.
During the Gamecocks’ 48-7 loss to Georgia, the Gamecocks were facing a fourth down that was delayed while female student-athletes were being taken off the field after an in-game ceremony to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX.
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Beamer can be seen while the game was delayed because athletes were still on the field screaming to get off. The clip has since gone viral on social media and Beamer apologized for it Sunday night.
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Here is his full response:
“Certainly want to address the incident that’s blown up here with the Title IX ceremony before the fourth down play yesterday. Before the game, we meet with the officials. The officials say we’re going to try and speed up the game as much as we can coming out of TV timeouts, and we would ask when the TV timeout is over we ask you’re at the line of scrimmage ready to go.
“We had a critical, critical fourth down decision to make on what we were going to do in that instance with whether we’re going to kick or go for it. We decided we were going to go for it. The whole time I’m not paying attention to what’s going on in the end zone. We send our offense out there to go for it. They’re at the line of scrimmage and Georgia sees the formation we’re in. we did what we were asked to do. We were not able to snap the football. I looked down in the end zone, I see why and my first initial reaction was to yell, ‘Get off the field.’
“I had no idea who was down there. I don’t meet with game management before games to clue me in on who’s being honored during a TV time-out or ceremony. We were so immersed on making a decision of what we’re going to do. I didn’t even look down there in the end zone. I was worried about what was going on in our own offensive huddle. I apologize to anyone I offended. That was my initial reaction. It’s similar to a track coach that’s getting ready to run the 100 meters and sees someone on the track. That was my reaction as well. I apologize. I know game management at Carolina has a tough job and a lot of moving parts.
“I’m sure they feel they could be better in that situation in regards of when and how we honored those female student-athletes and, more importantly, how we got them off the field a lot quicker than we were able to when the ceremony was over. That was a critical play in the game. I apologize and didn’t mean to offend anyone.
“I hope people know me well enough to know what an advocate I am for women’s sports. I have two daughters of my own who play women’s sports. I’m at as many women’s athletic events here at Carolina I can possibly be because I believe in them and support them. Anyone that thinks otherwise surely doesn’t know me. Sorry about that.”
