Shane Beamer joins Kirby Smart’s Georgia staff

Kirby Smart has done what Mark Richt never did.

On Tuesday, Smart announced he was hiring Shane Beamer to be his special teams coordinator. In Richt’s 15 years at Georgia he never had one person dedicated to special teams, which Beamer will be now that’s he on staff.

Beamer will also coach tight ends, rounding out the offensive coaching staff.

Beamer, the son of longtime Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer, previously coached under his father for the past five years. Beamer has also had stints as an assistant at South Carolina (2007-10), Mississippi State (2004-06) and was a graduate assistant at Tennessee (2001-03) and Georgia Tech (2000).

Needless to say, Beamer is familiar with the college football landscape in the southeast.

At Virginia Tech, Frank Beamer built a strong reputation for special teams, with the term “Beamer Ball” coined in reference to it. Shane Beamer coached running backs when he coached under his staff, but did coach special teams in the 2009 and 2010 seasons when he was at South Carolina.

With Beamer on board, the offensive coaching staff is as follows: Beamer, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Jim Chaney, offensive line coach Sam Pittman, running backs coach Dell McGee and receivers coach James Coley.

On the other side of the ball, Smart has retained defensive line coach Tracy Rocker and outside linebackers coach Kevin Sherrer, with the possibility of Sherrer moving to coach another position. Smart has one more assistant coach he can hire, per NCAA rules limiting it to nine full-time assistants, which will be his defensive coordinator.

This story was originally published January 5, 2016 at 3:38 PM with the headline "Shane Beamer joins Kirby Smart’s Georgia staff."