Why Shane Beamer should be an SEC Coach of the Year candidate after Auburn win
Shane Beamer glanced to his left and smirked.
Seated in the underbelly of Williams-Brice Stadium, Beamer looked over at his son Hunter, who crept into the screen of his postgame press conference following South Carolina’s 21-17 win over Auburn.
When Shane lingered around his father Frank’s media obligations at Virginia Tech, video chats were merely a thought in a tech guru’s imagination. Saturday, though, it was the look on each Beamer’s face that said it all.
It hasn’t been perfect, but South Carolina is well on its way under its first-year head coach.
“If we could just hang in there and get games to the fourth quarter, we’d have an opportunity to win games,” Beamer said Sunday of why he thought USC could get bowl-eligible in his inaugural season. “And you’ve seen that with games that we’ve won in the fourth quarter.”
It would have been laughable to consider Beamer a Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year candidate in August. The program was in a state of disarray upon Will Muschamp’s firing in November. South Carolina was promptly outscored 103-44 in the three games after Muschamp’s dismissal.
But preaching optimism, Beamer breathed life into an otherwise listless program that had won just six games over its last two seasons.
The former Oklahoma and Georgia assistant told reporters Sunday he liked a handful of the cards he was dealt in Columbia. The defensive line could be elite. Secondary pieces like Jaylan Foster and Cam Smith felt primed for breakout seasons.
Quarterback would be a question, to some degree. But a quartet of talented tailbacks gave the Gamecocks enough offensive options to play with.
Preseason prognosticators gave South Carolina little, if any, benefit of the doubt. The Gamecocks were picked to finish ahead of only Vanderbilt in the SEC East. Most national outlets slotted USC’s projected win total somewhere around three or four.
Yet, here we are.
With one game remaining against Clemson, South Carolina is 6-5 overall, 5-1 at home, bowl-eligible and playing with more house money than could be lost by even the most mediocre of gamblers.
“Shane Beamer leading South Carolina to wins over Auburn and Florida in Year 1 is one of the biggest upsets of this wild 2021 season,” Sports Illustrated national college football reporter Ross Dellenger posted to Twitter on Saturday night.
Beamer spoke at length Sunday evening about the increasing pressure on head coaches in this modern day and age. So far, 14 FBS head coaching jobs have come open. Two SEC schools — LSU and Florida — are seeking new coaches.
Take Dan Mullen as the preeminent example of modern-day college football. Mullen brought Mississippi State to heights it had rarely, if ever, seen during its decades-long football history. He parlayed that success into the head coaching gig at Florida, where he went 34-15 and reached the SEC title game a season ago.
Just over six hours before Beamer hopped on his weekly teleconference, reports surfaced that Mullen was fired by Florida amid a 5-6 start — including a 40-17 throttling in Columbia.
“I (won’t) get into all the particulars of what happened at Florida and the decision-making and all that,” Beamer said in reference to Mullen. “But a good football coach today that had a hell of a season last season and had a body of work over many many years, and one bad year and he’s gone.”
Only two South Carolina football coaches have been named SEC Coach of the Year since USC joined the conference in 1991. Lou Holtz’s 8-4 season in 2000 netted him the award. Steve Spurrier earned it in both 2005 and 2010.
The last 10 winners of the SEC Coach of the Year award averaged 12.4 wins per season. The last coach to win the honor with less than double-digit victories? Spurrier in 2010 at 9-4.
Beamer has the Gamecocks at 6-5 and 3-5 in league play heading into Saturday’s date with Clemson. Only Gerry DiNardo (5-6 at Vanderbilt in 1991) has won SEC Coach of the Year with less than seven wins since 1991.
A win on Saturday would do wonders for Beamer’s candidacy this fall, though Kirby Smart, Lane Kiffin, Mark Stoops and Nick Saban will have their supporters.
Whether he’s honored as the SEC Coach of the Year or not, Beamer’s first season in Columbia isn’t just an over-achievement. It’s a master class in miracle work.
Beamer will collect a $100,000 bonus for getting South Carolina bowl-eligible, according to a copy of his contract obtained by The State. An SEC Coach of the Year honor would net him another $75,000 cash.
Glancing toward Hunter as his father did before him, Shane fought back tears after Saturday’s bowl eligibility-clinching win over Auburn. When those outside the program left him for dead, he believed.
Another win this Saturday and that belief might net him some serious hardware.
