Why Shane Beamer is relishing first in-person experience at SEC spring meetings
Shane Beamer may be months shy of his second season at South Carolina, but he’s still a new guy in the ballrooms on the Florida Panhandle this week.
Following two years of online variations of Southeastern Conference spring meetings, the league is hosting its annual summit of administrators and coaches in-person for the first time since 2019 this week.
That’s left Beamer, who was hired in December 2020, spending more time around a handful of coaches he’s rarely interacted with up close beyond a postgame handshake.
“What’s great about this trip is I sat next to (Tennessee head coach) Josh Heupel for two, three days and (Missouri head coach) Eli Drinkwitz was on the left for two straight days,” Beamer told The State. “So I talked to those guys and developed relationships as well and got to know those other guys better as well.”
SEC spring meetings largely function as the quaint, beachfront cousin to the conference’s larger media days held annually in July.
There are less television cameras. Reporters are credentialed on an invite-only basis. Most coaches and administrators also bring their families down for the four-day paradise-esque escape that includes a handful of business meetings a football throw away from the Gulf of Mexico.
The week hasn’t been a full reprieve. There are decisions still to be made and headlines that have arisen — spats between Jimbo Fisher and Nick Saban and a possible change in the SEC’s scheduling model among them.
But there’s an ease around the resort for coaches like Beamer settling into their new-ish spots in the conference’s power broker pecking order.
“The ability to see new people, welcome them in, meet in-person and have interaction and watch reactions is just fun,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said on Tuesday night. “That’s kind of the reward of the job.”
Beamer’s week has varied in actual day-to-day responsibilities. Mixed between receptions beside the hotel pool, time with his family and meetings with fellow football coaches, media responsibilities litter the few free moments he has.
On Tuesday, Beamer helped kick off the festivities as one of seven SEC football coaches to take the podium for more formal press conferences this week as he touched on everything from the role, or lack thereof, of name, image and likeness deals in quarterback Spencer Rattler’s commitment to the Gamecocks or whether he thought coaches would remain civil in their closed-doors meetings following the Saban-Fisher drama.
It later included a radio appearance with Auburn men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl on the SEC Network and a run-in with Texas A&M basketball player Henry Coleman III, whose father, Hank, played football at Virginia Tech with Beamer.
Even LSU men’s basketball coach Matt McMahon — who worked at Tennessee as a basketball graduate assistant during Beamer’s time on Phil Fulmer’s staff in the early 2000s — had a chance to catch up with his old pal.
“You kind of go through the coaching profession and you get to meet a lot of elite coaches not just in your sport, but outside and you try to learn from them,” McMahon told The State. “And so I enjoyed following all (Beamer’s) success and trying to study why he’s been so successful. You see that in why he’s been able to put down his foundation just there in Year 1 at South Carolina.”
This isn’t to say Beamer and his compatriots have spent the week sipping rum runners and piña coladas on the company dime.
Meetings have included back-and-forth conversation surrounding those aforementioned NIL concerns, scheduling changes and more. Beamer — like the majority of the other coaches in attendance — though, has largely kept his opinions on the changes private or behind closed doors.
“This is the best conference in all of America,” Beamer said. “And you’ve got some of the most decorated college football coaches in the country sitting in that room. So to be able to sit in there and listen and learn is great. Hearing new ideas — future of the conference, future of college football, future of college athletics — I mean, there’s a lot to have a lot to discuss in there. But it’s been good. It’s been great.”
Most coaches headed back to their respective college towns on Wednesday night. Beamer joked he was off to the beach as soon as he wrapped up his last media obligation of the day to meet his wife, Emily, and their kids, Sutton, Olivia and Hunter, all of whom made the trip down to the Sunshine State.
The Gamecocks began summer workouts earlier this week in Columbia. Wednesday also marked the first day of another crucial recruiting month for Beamer’s program — one that landed 10 commitments in as many days at this time last year.
In the meantime, South Carolina’s second-year head coach will roll through a few more meetings as needed, albeit perhaps seperated by a spell at the pool or a quick catch up with an old friend or two.
