Analysis: The grand gamble South Carolina is about to undertake with Shane Beamer
Every college football coaching hire is a gamble. This we know.
But the choice South Carolina is making stands as a bigger one than most.
In truth, even hires perceived as layups often go bad. Ask Texas about Tom Herman. Ask Virginia Tech about Justin Fuente. Ask Florida about Will Muschamp.
Every hire is a gamble. Every one.
So what is there to take from Shane Beamer’s résumé? In truth, almost everything about his potential hire is a blank slate.
We know he’s a personality who can rally people together. We know he can close deals in recruiting. We know he’s got ties all over the sport.
But after that, we really don’t know much.
In the rumor mill, he’s been associated with a style of offense similar to Oklahoma’s under his current boss, Lincoln Riley. The name that’s been floated is that of Garrett Riley, who has Southern Methodist University averaging more than 38.6 points a game.
Perhaps that comes together and South Carolina blossoms into that team that slings it around like it’s in the Big 12.
On the other side of the ball, Beamer worked with a Saban disciple (Kirby Smart), his father’s ace defensive coordinator (Bud Foster) and with Ellis Johnson when he had USC’s defense humming. From that set of a tree, perhaps there’s a connection.
But that’s kind of where we are.
It’s a guessing game on style on both sides of the ball. Perhaps we can guess his father, Frank, a legend at Virginia Tech, might come on as a consigliere, as Bobby Lamb did for Billy Napier at Louisiana and Sparky Woods has for Mack Brown at UNC.
This model of CEO coach has worked before, from Dabo Swinney to P.J. Fleck to Ed Orgeron. It’s failed with the likes of Orgeron in his first tenure, Tim Brewster at Minnesota and more than a few recruiting-minded head coaches. It just depends on the hires and how things break.
What we also know is that many around Beamer speak for him, and praise his personality and detail-oriented nature. Gamecocks players of old came out of the woodwork to back him, sharing stories and moments.
Marcus Lattimore, a voice for the program, pointed out that as a special teams coach, Beamer had to get a large group of players working together, touching most of the roster. Beamer made the stars and the end-of-the-bench guys want to do that dirty work.
If his approach matches the pull that helped spur his candidacy, it’ll be one of getting everyone — inside and maybe outside the program — pulling in the same direction, something communal in nature and tone.
That’s one way to build a football program. It’s not an easy way, but there really isn’t an easy way.
It’s a risk for South Carolina’s athletic department brass. Ray Tanner had one football hire that he had to fire. Athletic directors rarely get to make three hires if the second doesn’t work out.
There’s no net of being able to point to a successful offense, a gaudy record or a great turnaround job at some other program. There’s just a level of faith.
It’s a big gamble, more than many, but the chips are in, and we’ll have a few years to see exactly how they fall.
This story was originally published December 6, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
