As Tennessee deals with controversy, Beamer promises ‘atmosphere of compliance’ at USC
Shane Beamer has his full staff locked in and ready to go with South Carolina football — now comes one final sprint before National Signing Day on Feb. 3.
And as the Gamecock coaching staff races to secure commitments and signings from its remaining targets, one of South Carolina’s main SEC rivals, Tennessee, is in a state of turmoil following the firing of multiple staff members, including head coach Jeremy Pruitt, for alleged recruiting violations.
The chaotic situation with the Volunteers, which could very well result in significant NCAA punishments, gives Beamer an easy example to point to when talking NCAA compliance with his coaches.
“I’ve seen it at a place like Oklahoma, where we came from, and other schools, where you can do things the right way, and we’re certainly going to do things the right way here,” Beamer said last Tuesday when asked about Tennessee. “It’s great teaching tools for sure when you’re able to pinpoint or spotlight other programs that maybe are dealing with some issues like some schools out there right now. It’s an illustration of mistakes they made, and (I’m) not assuming anything.”
As for the Gamecocks themselves, Beamer pledged that he’ll run a tight ship when it comes to following the rules.
“I’ve got a wife and three children at home, and when I go home and see them at night and when I look myself in the mirror and lay down, I’m gonna feel good about the way that we did things and the way that my staff does things,” Beamer said. “And it starts with me promoting an atmosphere of compliance and that’s certainly something that we try to do each and every day.”
To that end, Beamer said he has made a point to have continual updates and refreshers for his staff on what they can and can’t do while on the recruiting trail.
“Every staff meeting we have, we try and cover something from a compliance standpoint,” Beamer said. “Jeff Whitehead, our assistant AD for compliance, was at our staff meeting last week, and he went over everything with us from a rules standpoint, certain aspects, the transfer portal, things like that.”
The NCAA’s bylaws list nearly 70 pages of rules related to recruiting, regulating how, when and where and even who coaches can recruit at different times. Avoiding an accidental violation of any of those rules, Beamer admitted, isn’t always easy.
“One thing we talked about in that staff meeting last week was, if you ever have a question about something call Jeff, call Chance (Miller, senior deputy athletics director), whoever,” Beamer said. “It’s my 22nd year in coaching and I’ve called Jeff Whitehead I think twice this morning already about rules questions that I had in regards to stuff now that I’m in that head-coaching chair, just to make sure that we’re doing everything the right way.”
