What Shane Beamer said about potential assistant coaches already ‘in the building’
Shane Beamer still isn’t ready to announce any members of his coaching, but he’s getting closer.
The new South Carolina football coach was asked about the progress of putting his staff together, among other topics, in a Monday morning radio interview with Teddy Heffner.
Beamer arrived back in Columbia on Sunday after helping Oklahoma to its sixth-straight Big 12 conference championship victory on Saturday.
“I hope soon. I am trying to get as many pieces of the puzzles in place before I do too much,” Beamer said. “There are still conversations I want to have in place with people in the building at Carolina. There are people outside of the building that either coached in games this past weekend or have bowl games coming up. Just trying to be respectful of their situations.
“I said it last week when I had an A, B, C at each position when Everyone I talked to coach Tanner, Chance Miller and president (Bob) Caslen about I feel like all those guys are still very, very much in play. Couldn’t be more pleased with how things are going as far as a staff standpoint. ... I know everyone wants it announced, but I am excited as far as how the staff is coming together and where we are with things.”
Beamer said the new offensive and defensive coordinator will have a say in who the assistant coaches will be. He also mentioned a few times during Monday’s radio interview that there are some faces in the USC building that he doesn’t want to let walk out the door.
“There are some really good coaches in this building we would certainly like having on our staff going forward regardless,” Beamer said.
Some of the coaches possibly being retained might be interim coach Mike Bobo, running backs coach Des Kitchings, and defensive coaches Tracy Rocker and Mike Peterson.
Bobo has been the interim coach after Will Muschamp was fired last month. and will coach the team in the Gasparilla Bowl on Saturday against UAB. He was asked about his future on the staff on Sunday night and didn’t give many details, but did say how much he and his family like Columbia.
“I said this after the Kentucky game, we’ll end up where we’re supposed to end up,” Bobo said. “And family is where your feet are, I firmly believe that. But I like Columbia, my kids like Columbia.”
South Carolina started practice Sunday for Saturday’s bowl game. Beamer watched practice Sunday and will be at practices during the week but won’t have a hand in actual preparation as he works on getting ready for the 2021 season.
Beamer said he started meeting individually with players at 7 a.m. Monday and had met with seven players by the time of his radio interview. He plans to meet with seven more later in the day and others throughout the week.
“It is important for me to sit down and try to get to know these guys and talk about our plans going forward,” Beamer said. “... I’m beyond impressed with the players I have talked to. I spoke to the majority of the team on the phone before I got back over here. There are a lot of really good players in this program and a lot of good players that are hungry to win. They understand things need to be different and there is a lot of work to do.”
Gasparilla Bowl
Who: South Carolina (2-8) vs. UAB (6-3)
When: Noon Saturday
Where: Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida
TV: ABC
Line: UAB by 5
This story was originally published December 21, 2020 at 10:42 AM.
