With USC departures making headlines, Beamer ‘so appreciative’ of those who stayed
Since Shane Beamer has taken over as head coach for South Carolina football, there’s been a steady stream of departures and additions from the program — transfers in and out, commitments and signings, coaches leaving for other jobs or getting hired.
That stream is finally starting to slow.
At a news conference Tuesday to introduce three new staff members, Beamer made a point of praising the people who stayed put. The team gathered for a barbecue at the operations building Monday night, and Beamer said they had “100% attendance” from players they expected to be there.
“I told the team this last night and I mean it — so appreciative for the people that are here. A lot gets made of players that have chosen to move on for different reasons, which certainly we wish them well and have nothing but positive things to say about those guys that felt like a fresh start was best for them. Same thing with coaches that, for different reasons, felt like they needed a fresh start somewhere else,” Beamer said.
“But nothing gets said about the guys that stayed, and not just the players that had opportunities to go to other programs, but coaches that are in this building, support staff people that are in this building. .... Make no mistake, there’s a lot of guys in this building that have had opportunities to go other places — players, coaches, and support staff.”
USC lost 10 or so players to the transfer portal. Meanwhile, three assistant coaches departed the staff after being hired or retained by Beamer — all to work at Auburn.
Still, there are a few key spots left for Beamer to fill, chief among them his offensive line coach. With the abrupt departure of Will Friend, Beamer has one last hire to make to complete his on-field staff. He and new offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield are still working on that, discussing candidates they’ve each worked with throughout their career.
“That person has to connect with the offensive coordinator. I mean, it’s a critical hire. Whether I was in Oklahoma with Lincoln Riley and Bill Bedenbaugh or when I was at Georgia with Jim Chaney and Sam Pittman, who had worked together at Tennessee and Arkansas before — those guys got to be able to speak the same language, be on the same page, connect,” Beamer said. “So that’s one thing that obviously is first and foremost important. And then you gotta be, like all the other positions, a great person, fit in with the players in this building and the staff in this building and the group that we’re putting together.”
Beamer also confirmed that he has to hire a new director of player personnel, a key recruiting position that had been held by Drew Hughes. With Hughes off to Texas, Beamer said he met with the staff of student-assistants who help break down and evaluate film in the recruiting department.
“Those guys are studs. And I told them that, that they’ve done a great job helping me and the assistant coaches during this transition, as I came on board, I’m trying to learn about recruits, learn about our current team, and then the new assistant coaches as well,” Beamer said. “So those guys, they know what the heck they’re doing and they’ve done a great job and will continue to as we go forward. Obviously we know where we are from a recruiting standpoint and what needs to be done, so it’s not like we have to get a guy in here tomorrow or the recruiting is gonna fall apart. We’ll be OK.”
Behind the scenes, there are still more hires to come. Beamer said the size of the Gamecocks’ support staff, a group that includes analysts, trainers, recruiting staff and more, is still evolving. He added that the USC administration had supported him in adding new roles but cautioned that the number of people involved wouldn’t “explode.”
“I’ve been at Oklahoma the last few years where it was a little bit probably similar to what South Carolina was last year in this building, in this organization. I’ve been at the University of Georgia, where it was a lot more than that,” Beamer said. “And I’m more of a ‘less is more’ kind of guy — defined roles, you know, each person in this building knows what every single person is doing.”
