Shane Beamer describes testifying at NIL hearing on Capitol Hill: 'It was terrifying'
Shane Beamer recently appeared on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., and let’s just say he has no plans of pursuing a political career anytime soon.
Back on March 4, Beamer was a witness for a hearing on NIL and college sports by the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade. As the head football coach at South Carolina, he’s been a part of many big games and high-pressure moments throughout his career. But there was nothing quite like speaking in front of Congress.
“Honestly, it was terrifying,” Beamer said. “I can sit in here with you guys, and that can be nerve-wracking at times, but when you’re sitting there on national television — C-SPAN, or the internet, or whatever it was on that day, I don’t know. But you’ve got all these people from the Republican side, Democratic side, and they’re sitting there staring at you, it’s different as well.”
In addition to Beamer, Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman, Duke track athlete Emily Cole, Abilene Christian’s Anthony Egbo and former Clemson offensive lineman and vice president of the College Football Players Association Justin Falcinelli also testified.
Leading up to the hearing, Beamer wrote a testimony detailing that changes need to be made to the currently “unsustainable” situation in college athletics. In his letter, he stressed the importance of “the college student-athlete experience” and how a “national, bi-partisan federal law will provide equal opportunity for all student-athletes to benefit from NIL and create a uniform standard to ensure we’re all playing by the same rules.”
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While the experience was different, he still found it exciting and fun. He said the SEC and Congressman Russell Fry, the U.S. representative for South Carolina’s 7th congressional district, reached out to see if he wanted to participate in the discussion. Beamer, honored by this, happily accepted the opportunity to be there.
“It was neat to be a part of and a pretty cool experience,” he said. “I’m a history buff, so to be able to be up there, and it’s the third time I’ve gone up there and met with people, but it’s the first time I’ve ever been on television testifying.”
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Beamer has long been a proponent of changes in college athletics that can better help the student-athletes, especially when it comes to NIL. He felt making the trip to Capitol Hill was important for these reasons.
“Somebody thought that my opinion or my viewpoints on things were important to hear. I certainly didn’t take that responsibility lightly and prepared hard to go up there, and hope I did a decent job of representing,” Beamer said. “My biggest fear was walking out of there and creating national headlines with something I said. And I don’t think I did, but it was neat to be a part of.”
Beamer, who begins his fifth season with the Gamecocks, said he’ll be back in Washington in April. However, he has no plans of testifying, to which he later said, “Thank God.”
“I think Senator (Tommy) Tuberville and some of the other coaches that are up there that are now in DC, they’ve got it handled here for a while,” he said. “I enjoy politics. I enjoy following it and keeping up with it, but I think I’ll stick to coaching football for the time being, for a long time.”
