Shane Beamer finalist for Steve Spurrier Award given to nation’s top first-year coach
South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer is in the running for an award named after his former boss in Columbia.
After leading the Gamecocks to a 6-6 season and their first bowl appearance since 2018, Beamer on Wednesday was named a finalist for the Steve Spurrier Award. The honor is given to the nation’s best head coach in his first year heading up a program and is voted on by the Football Writers Association of America.
The other finalists for this year’s award are Central Florida’s Gus Malzahn, the former Auburn head coach who led UCF to an 8-4 season and Gasparilla Bowl berth; and Tennessee’s Josh Heupel, who led the Vols to a 7-5 season and Music City Bowl appearance after leaving UCF.
Beamer’s South Carolina team overachieved its preseason expectations, clinching bowl eligibility in 2021 after being pegged by national pundits to win three or four games this season. This year’s Gamecocks earned the program’s first six-win season in three years, securing as many wins in 2021 as they did in 2019 and 2020 combined.
Beamer used three different starting quarterbacks amid a rash of injuries in 2021 and coached the Gamecocks to two upset wins over Florida and Auburn.
Beamer has also reeled in solid wins through this year’s early signing period, picking up former five-star quarterback Spencer Rattler from Oklahoma through the transfer portal and adding Sooners transfer tight end Austin Stogner.
South Carolina also signed two four-star quarterbacks in Tanner Bailey (Gordo, Alabama) and Braden Davis (Middletown, Delaware) as well as high-impact defensive players, with defensive back Keenan Nelson Jr. (St Joseph’s Prep, Pennsylvania) and linebacker Stone Blanton (Madison-Ridgeland Academy, Mississippi).
Spurrier became the award’s namesake last July and won the award himself in 2005 with South Carolina. The Gamecocks went 7-5 in Spurrier’s first year and made it to the Independence Bowl. His tenure at USC ran through 2015 and included the Gamecocks’ first and only SEC Championship berth as well as their golden age from 2011-13, where the Gamecocks won 11 games in three consecutive years.
This year’s award will be the first given with Steve Spurrier as the namesake and the 20th given in its history. Colorado head coach Karl Dorrell won last year’s honor, which has been given to a number of coaching stars in college football. Past winners include Chip Kelly (Oregon, 2009), Jimbo Fisher (Florida State, 2010) and Beamer’s former boss Lincoln Riley (Oklahoma, 2017).
This story was originally published December 29, 2021 at 10:03 AM.
