Shane Beamer has South Carolina standing tall following his second season in Columbia
Consider Shane Beamer a standing-desk guy — well, sort of.
“They brought that in here and I guess I asked for it like a year-and-a-half ago,” Beamer joked on Wednesday, pointing toward the contraption perched upon his more permanent desk that allows him to stand while pecking away at his computer.
Don’t let South Carolina’s second-year head coach fool you. Really, he likely needs anything but to stand more often given how in-demand he is following a breakthrough 8-5 season.
Yet seated on the black sofa in his office, Williams-Brice Stadium looming in the distance through the floor-to-ceiling windows behind him, Beamer remains the upbeat, effervescent version of himself he has been since his hiring in December 2020 and long before.
He’s happy with the way his second season in Columbia went, though concedes there are still plays from South Carolina’s Gator Bowl loss to Notre Dame that still race through his mind two months later. He’s confident in the way the Gamecocks are recruiting, the pledge of five-star athlete Nyckoles Harbor on National Signing Day earlier this month notwithstanding.
Still, Beamer cautions there’s a ways to go.
“I don’t look at it as, ‘OK, we’ve done this in Year 1 and we’ve done this in Year 2. Now Year 3, we go do this,’ ” he told The State. “There’s an expectation of what we expect here, but, for me, for the players and the staff, honestly — I know it’s cliché — it’s just go back to work and grind and work to be the very best team that we can be in 2023.”
If anyone deserves to be high on their horse these days it’s Beamer. No, he didn’t win a title. Heck, he didn’t even win a postseason game. But the transformation of South Carolina football over the past two seasons deserves the hype and recognition it’s gained of late
Beamer inherited a program engulfed in flames following Will Muschamp’s ousting. He’s since put out that fire with incessant positivity and a desire to be competitive at, historically, one of the Southeastern Conference’s more difficult jobs.
Done that he has.
South Carolina was picked second-to-last in the SEC East in 2021 only to finish 7-6 with a bowl win over North Carolina. This fall brought more of the same. Pegged fifth behind Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky and Georgia, it finished 3-2 in games against those squads en route to an 8-5 campaign.
Beamer, himself, was doubted upon his hiring. How could South Carolina side with a coach who’d never been an offensive or defensive play-caller?
Consider that question answered, at least on some level, even if Beamer won’t take the bait when asked if there’s any personal validation in his program’s current trajectory.
“I think it’s more just pride in what we’ve done as a program, not so much, ‘Hey I can do this,’ ” he said. “And I don’t mean this in an arrogant way, but I felt confident in my ability to do this job when I got hired. And certainly you’re never prepared for this role and everything that comes across your desk and the challenges that it presents day in day out. But you learn and feel like you get better. I felt confident about it and, for me, it’s just pride in what this team — players, coaches, staff — have done.”
There’s reason for further excitement in Columbia these days. Quarterback Spencer Rattler and receiver Antwane “Juice” Wells Jr. are both returning following flirtations with the NFL. A handful of transfers and a young-but-talented defense ought to also become offseason talking points.
Rattler’s return, in particular, brings a host of expectations. He’s part of a returning SEC quarterback class that’s mostly limited on experience outside of Arkansas’ K.J. Jefferson, Mississippi State’s Will Rogers, LSU’s Jayden Daniels and N.C. State import Devin Leary, now at Kentucky.
The former five-star recruit looked the part in upset wins over No. 5 Tennessee and No. 8 Clemson, but struggled in spells to start the year. It’s on Beamer — and more so new offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains — to take advantage of Rattler’s final season.
“The part that I’ve been impressed with is (Rattler’s) ownership of the team in the locker room,” Loggains told The State on Wednesday. “I think that last year, when you’re learning and you’re learning people’s names and you’re getting to know your teammates and you don’t have those like strong bonds yet, you haven’t gone through hard things together yet. Time and struggle grow people and now you feel like he’s got ownership of the locker room because he’s built trust, he’s got equity with those guys. He played well down the stretch.”
Beamer smirks when asked if he’s added any new memorabilia to his office that’s quite literally swimming in it. Photos from the field storm following the Tennessee win and a shot from the playing surface at Death Valley after this year’s victory over Clemson have been added to the walls. As has a football honoring his first victory over a Top 25 team from the October win at Kentucky.
In a separate interview on Tuesday, Beamer was asked whether he’d rather have a rewind button or a pause button in life. He sided with the “pause” option, he said, looking toward those aforementioned pictures affixed to the wall as he explained his reasoning.
“I said ‘pause’ because I’d love to be able to pause and savor those moments,” Beamer said. “Because that’s what it’s all about — those times on the field celebrating a win, or in the locker room, or with your family. When you’re able to do it with your immediate family, but then also your football family, is pretty special just because of all the hard work that goes into moments like that, all the sacrifices that your family made.”
Beamer has South Carolina standing tall heading into his third season, but that effort has him due for a few minutes in a recliner. He’s earned it.
