Behind the (friendly) war of words between Dabo Swinney and Shane Beamer
Shane Beamer smirks at the thought.
“Yeahhhh,” Beamer says sighing. “I appreciate Dabo telling that story in his press conference.”
Shane says the tale arises out of his son Hunter’s time as a quarterback for his flag football team in Norman, Oklahoma when the elder Beamer worked on Lincoln Riley’s staff.
Prior to his involvement with the South Carolina job opening, Shane says Hunter asked that he text Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney and to tell him that he’d play quarterback for the Tigers one day.
Shane assures that’s no longer the case. Swinney has alternative hopes.
“(Hunter) was a huge Clemson fan,” Swinney said jokingly Tuesday. “I can’t wait to see him. I’m going to remind him of that when I see him. He better be out on the field. I’ll be looking for him.”
That Swinney and Beamer have had this much lighthearted banter just days before facing off at Williams-Brice Stadium is new in its own right. It’s not that every past coach on either side of the rivalry was volatile, but both have brought a general calmness to what can be a heated war of words between fan bases.
The parallels between the men assuredly plays a role. Beamer noted Tuesday how Swinney bided his time as a position coach under Tommy Bowden before landing the permanent gig. Part of that audition was a win over South Carolina as Clemson’s interim head coach.
Beamer, like Swinney, is as charismatic as they come. He’s fiery on the sidelines, but in a passionate, healthy way. He quips with reporters and has a charm about him that endears him to Gamecocks inside and out of the state.
The son of a coaching legend, Beamer also waited for the right opportunity. He coached at seven schools over 20 years before landing the head coaching job in Columbia. As was the case with Swinney, Beamer had also never been an offensive or defensive coordinator before becoming a head coach.
“They’ve done a great job, had a huge win last night,” Swinney said Sunday in reference to South Carolina’s 21-17 win over Auburn. “I think Shane’s done an awesome, awesome job in building that team. They’ve had some adversity as well that they’ve been able to overcome.”
Speaking with reporters Tuesday, Beamer said he and Swinney still keep in touch.
Beamer joked that he called Swinney on a Monday night earlier this season with a question. Then in the midst of his weekly radio show, Swinney missed the initial call. He promptly called Beamer back during the commercial break.
“I said, ‘This is probably the first time in the history of this rivalry that both head coaches are talking during the other ones radio show,’ ” Beamer recalled Tuesday as laughs permeated around South Carolina’s interview room.
While neither Beamer nor Swinney has stoked the fire, it hasn’t stopped literal flames from flying.
Monday, South Carolina burned in effigy a Clemson tiger structure as part of “Tiger Burn.” That’s not to mention the decades of shenanigans that have ensued between the two fan bases.
Most Gamecocks will think back to “The Prank,” when South Carolina undergrads dressed up as Clemson players and eventually made it down onto the field in Columbia.
There’s also the home-run swinging celebrations quarterback Steve Taneyhill sent toward the Tiger faithful at Memorial Stadium before he pretended to sign the massive orange and white paw print emblazoned on the grass at midfield.
Beamer and Swinney, like any coaches, have their moments. Beamer snapped at a reporter after the Georgia game when asked whether there was anything the Bulldogs defense was doing to make life difficult. He later apologized for the outburst.
Swinney has been long maligned for his allusion that he’d leave coaching if college athletes were paid. Those comments from 2015 resurfaced again when name, image and likeness rules were adjusted by the NCAA to allow for student-athletes to make money through varying sponsorship avenues.
Saturday, the two men at the center of the new age of the South Carolina-Clemson rivalry will take center stage. They’ll assuredly trade pleasantries before the game. After that, it’s game on.
As for Hunter Beamer, he’s expected to don garnet and black at Williams-Brice Stadium.
This story was originally published November 23, 2021 at 6:07 PM.
