What traits Shane Beamer is looking for in a defensive coordinator
Shane Beamer has assembled the majority of his first South Carolina football staff, retaining four coaches from the previous regime and hiring three new assistants to come on for the Gamecocks.
But that still leaves three spots still to fill, including one of the most key roles for any program: defensive coordinator.
Speaking Monday before his three new assistants were officially introduced in a news conference, Beamer continued to say there is “a huge amount of interest” in the remaining coaching slots but didn’t give a timeline on when he expects to make a hire, only saying that he wanted to have the staff in place by the time players returned to campus in a few weeks.
As for what he’s specifically looking for in a defensive coordinator, Beamer threw out a couple qualities.
“First place, he’s gotta be a great person. First and foremost, I want great people in this program, great men, great teachers, guys that are loyal, hard working, all that stuff. So we’ve gotta be a fit from a personality standpoint and make sure that we believe in the same things off the field as far as how we live our lives, and that’s first and foremost,” Beamer said.
On the football side of things, Beamer said he wants someone with whom he can “mesh from a philosophy standpoint.” As an assistant, Beamer has coached on defense before, and he has an idea of how he wants that side of the ball to look.
“You’ve got to be multiple. And any coordinator that I’m talking to or have had conversations with, they believe that. I mean, offenses are too good now in college football, that if you just line up in the same thing every single down and play the same coverage every single down, it’s gonna be tough to stop people,” Beamer said. “You’ve got to be multiple in your scheme and play to your personnel. Some years, your personnel may be a little bit different with what you have at linebacker, defensive line, secondary, and that affects the scheme that you play with.”
One of the most commonly mentioned candidates for the DC position has been Jay Bateman, who is currently the co-defensive coordinator at North Carolina. The Athletic also reported Sunday that former Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason has interviewed for the job. Mason in particular has a reputation for stressing gritty, “blue collar” play.
“At the end of the day, I just believe you’ve got to be great at fundamentals. Football nowadays is a game of playing in space. So you got to be great tacklers and limit big plays. You’ve got to be situationally aware, and then you’ve got to play with relentless, unbelievable effort, and I believe if you do those things you have a chance to be a successful defense,” Beamer said.
Other aspects to consider, Beamer said, include a coach’s overarching philosophy when it comes to practice and preparation for games.
Whomever Beamer and the Gamecocks do hire, he’ll have some of his position coaches filled out already, with defensive line coach Tracy Rocker and outside linebackers coach Mike Peterson set to return. But he’ll also have to deal with a severely depleted secondary that has lost five rotation players from this past year to the NFL Draft or the transfer portal.
This story was originally published December 28, 2020 at 1:36 PM with the headline "What traits Shane Beamer is looking for in a defensive coordinator."
