In year of coaching rants, why Shane Beamer isn’t using outside criticism as fuel

Like just about everyone in the Southeast, Shane Beamer heard Dabo Swinney’s rant on Monday evening, a four-minute diatribe against the man calling and anyone else who doubts him and/or Clemson.

In his question to Swinney, the now-infamous caller, Tyler from Spartanburg, asked the Clemson coach if he’d ever read Proverbs 16:18 in the Bible.

“Which talks about pride comes before the fall,” Tyler said.

Beamer listened to that soundbite. During the Gamecocks’ turbulent season, Tyler got him thinking, too.

“I know Proverbs was quite the theme of one of my friends in the Upstate last night as well,” Beamer said on Tuesday. “So I’m reminded of the great Proverbs verse, Proverbs 18:2. There’s a lot of that going on, too, if anyone wants to look that up. I feel for people who haven’t been a part of a team and don’t understand what that’s like.”

Proverbs 18:2 reads: “A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.”

Beamer was subtly referencing an exchange from less than an hour earlier on social media between an account on Twitter/X for “The Spurs Up Show” and South Carolina running back Dakereon Joyner.

The account shared a quote from Joyner about telling his Gamecock teammates to find joy despite South Carolina’s 2-6 record.

“There is absolutely no joy in losing,” the account added.

In response to that, Joyner tweeted: “Stfu,” short for shut the (expletive) up.

Beamer, it seems, was well aware of that exchange by the time he walked into his weekly news conference.

“I’m proud of Dakereon Joyner,” Beamer said. “I saw where he came in here talking about talking to the team this morning about finding some joy. And there is — trust me, there is no one more upset about our team being 2-6 than our players, coaches and staff. Because no one has put more into it than our players. But I also don’t want anybody in our program being negative.

“Positive energy is a core value of this program,” Beamer added. “We’re working to get ourselves out of where we are right now. Without a doubt. But we better do with that some positivity.”

Aside from allegations of espionage up at Michigan, one of the most-interesting trends this season is ranting college coaches. It seems endless the number of head coaches who have found a camera after a big win to call out some slight or a minor negative comment.

First it was Colorado head coach Deion Sanders telling reporters, “I keep receipts. … Do you believe now?!”

Then it was Ohio State’s Ryan Day calling out former South Carolina and Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz after he said the Irish were more physical than the Buckeyes. “I’d like to know where Lou Holtz is right now,” Day said seconds after beating Notre Dame. “What he said about our team, I cannot believe. This is a tough team right here. We’re proud to be from Ohio.”

That same week, Washington State coach Jake Dickert got upset that 88-year-old Lee Corso said on College Gameday that the matchup between the Cougars and Oregon State was the “Nobody watches us bowl.”

And just last week after beating Clemson, N.C. State coach Dave Doeren was still mad about “ESPN College GameDay” guest picker, former Carolina Panthers receiver Steve Smith, saying that N.C. State was “waiting for basketball to start.”

“Tell Steve Smith in the studio that this isn’t a basketball school,” Doeren said in his postgame interview, which was on The CW, not ESPN. “He can kiss my (expletive).”

For so long, head coaches have told the public they don’t read or hear anything. That they are 100% focused on what’s happening in their building and don’t let any outside noise seep through.

We are learning this season that is completely false. These guys hear everything. They know everything being said because part of their job requires them to know everything being said. It’s how Beamer knew, in mere minutes, about a social media post one of his players sent.

But all of this, too, can be a positive tool. Doubt drives motivation. And social media is a well of pessimists providing bulletin-board material.

Asked how often he uses outside negativity as fuel for his players, Beamer needed no time to think.

“Zero, really,” he said. “I don’t have a grievance with people. I have my players’ backs is what I have. We don’t talk a whole lot about the people outside of this building.”

He continued: “I don’t come into team meetings and say, ‘Look what this person said about us.’ Or, ‘Look what that person said about us.’ Never. I think I have, maybe a couple of times, used the point spread. ‘Hey, we’re 20-some point underdogs, do y’all really think this team is 20 points better than us?’ Other than that, no, I don’t think I have ever, ever used a quote from someone outside talking about our team that I can remember.”

Beamer paused for three seconds, looking at the ceiling, thinking.

“I lied,” he said.

There was one time.

Before the 2023 season-opener against North Carolina, Beamer found a video clip of somebody saying how much more-talented the Tar Heels were than South Carolina and showed it to his team. The Gamecocks lost by two touchdowns.

“Obviously that didn’t work very well,” Beamer said. “That is why I don’t do it.”

This story was originally published November 1, 2023 at 7:00 AM.