Shane Beamer’s first 5-year South Carolina contract revealed. Here are the details
New South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer will be one of the lowest-paid coaches in the SEC, and he’ll have a five-year deal to show what he can do.
The replacement for Will Muschamp had his contract approved Tuesday at the school’s board of trustees meeting. He’ll be paid $2.75 million a year.
Beamer was officially hired Dec. 6. He is currently in Oklahoma, helping his old team prepare for the Big 12 title game while also helping wrap South Carolina’s recruiting class for the early signing period that starts Wednesday.
“Having been through this one time before, you do learn a lot through the process,” Gamecocks athletic director Ray Tanner said. “But Shane has been great to deal with. He’s excited about becoming the head coach of this university and very passionate and looking forward to be in here, and he’s gonna be ready to go.”
The deal breaks down to $1.1 million from the school and $1.65 million from athletic department contract rights holders. The buyout will be 65% of the remaining deal. A summary of the contract provided to reporters Tuesday did not include whether Beamer’s deal includes mitigation, which is a tactic that allows the school to save money if it opts to buy out the coach down the road.
He can make an additional $200,000 for making the SEC title game and $250,000 for winning it. Each bowl appearance earns him $100,000, with $300,000 for a New Years 6 bowl appearance and $500,000 for a College Football Playoff trip.
If Beamer wants to leave, he’ll owe a hefty sum. In 2021, that total will be $7 million, and will drop by $1 million each year (running from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31).
Beamer was hired after a three-week search that followed Muschamp’s dismissal when the team fell to 2-5 with a dismal three-game losing streak. Muschamp finished his USC tenure 28-30 across more than four seasons. The Gamecocks were 6-16 overall the last two years.
South Carolina is on the hook for more than $15 million owed to Muschamp. Tanner said he is in the process of negotiating the terms of that buyout.
Beamer came to Columbia off stints with the Sooners and at Georgia. He spent five years coaching at Virginia Tech for his father, Hokies legend Frank. Before that, he spent four seasons in Columbia, working for Steve Spurrier.
School President Bob Caslen said he gave a lot of credit to Tanner for handling the process, especially when Caslen came down with COVID-19. He saw something in Beamer he felt the program needs going forward.
“I’m looking at culture,” Caslen said. “I want to see a guy who’s a leader, who not only knows football, but he’s a leader. He’s got to motivate kids to play to levels they didn’t think was even possible. They’re gonna lay it on the line for each other. They’ve got to have tremendous discipline. You’ve got to build that culture.”
Caslen said the search came down to a couple candidates, but Beamer was someone they’d wanted all along. He also said the process was similar in mechanic to his hire of Jeff Monken at Army.
The school’s pool for assistant coach salaries was not revealed Tuesday. Tanner said it will be in line with recent assistant pools.
Other contract perks for Beamer:
▪ Two cars.
▪ One suite at Williams-Brice Stadium (16 seats plus eight additional tickets).
▪ Twelve tickets to every road games and 24 tickets for each bowl game..
▪ Membership to one country club and one dining club approved by the university.
This story was originally published December 15, 2020 at 12:42 PM.
