Shane Beamer should focus on recruiting first, hiring coaches second, ESPN analyst says
When South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner was searching for a new head football coach, he made it clear that hiring someone before the Dec. 16 start to the early signing period for the 2021 recruiting class was a priority.
Sure enough, the Gamecocks found their man, Shane Beamer, on Dec. 6, more than a week before Tanner’s target date.
While USC does head into this early signing period starting Wednesday with Beamer in charge, Beamer himself has yet to announce any of the 10 assistants who will make up his coaching staff, including offensive and defensive coordinators — those position coaches and recruiters are often central to securing the pledge of a prospect.
Beamer said Monday in a radio interview that he plans to take his time in assembling his assistant coaching staff, and he also detailed his plan for this Wednesday, when a majority of FBS commits are expected to officially sign with their new programs.
And according to ESPN national recruiting analyst Tom Luginbill, Beamer’s approach is a good one during an unprecedented time.
“It’s a challenge that everybody has and most people don’t actually know how to address, because there’s no blueprint for this. There’s no, ‘Hey, look back to this year when this happened. How did teams best deal with it?’ You’re swimming without a life vest in very, very deep waters,” Luginbill told reporters on a conference call Monday.
While many fans are understandably anxious to find out who Beamer will hire to coach under him, especially because this is his first head coaching experience, Luginbill said the immediate focus has to be on recruiting.
“I think the most important thing, and maybe more important than ever before, is the head coach, when he is newly hired, needs to worry about the players first and hiring the coaches second. In essence, we’re still going to be in a dead period. So the coach is going to have an opportunity to hire his staff and not get behind the eight ball, because everybody is playing by the same rules. I think you’ve got to get your personnel guy, first and foremost, and then you got to be, not only be the face of the program individually, but you’ve got to be the main point of contact,” Luginbill said.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Beamer’s recruiting efforts will have to be entirely virtual. That may mean some tough calls, Luginbill said, as he evaluate tape and decides who he wants to keep as part of the class. At the moment, South Carolina doesn’t seem positioned to turn anyone away. The Gamecocks have just 10 commits, and the class is ranked last in the SEC and 93rd nationally, per 247Sports.
Beamer said Monday he’s already had multiple conversations with every USC commit and some other targets. Meanwhile, other assistants hired by former coach Will Muschamp still at Carolina can recruit on behalf of the program. As Luginbill pointed out, Beamer is the one guaranteed to be around next year, and without any permanent assistants announced, more works falls to him to sell recruits on his vision for the program.
“Everything that’s going on behind the scenes, those problems, you’re trying to hide any uncertainty, any type of instability,” Luginbill said. “You are sending the message that, ‘Hey, we are moving forward, we’re ready to go. We’re talking to you because we know we’ve got to hit the ground running. And I’m the guy, I’m the head coach, I’m in charge here ... I will keep you up to date on what we’re doing with the staff, we’re working towards that every day.’
“But right now, the caliber of players that we sign trumps how quickly we get our staff in place. That’s the approach I would take.”
