What position group and how much play-calling will Shane Beamer handle for Gamecocks?
Just when it seemed like Shane Beamer had his full staff of assistants set for South Carolina football, running backs coach Des Kitchings departed for the NFL.
Still, even when the Gamecocks head coach does find a replacement for Kitchings, there’s still one more staffing assignment he has to consider — his own.
Over the course of his 20 years as an assistant, Beamer coached five different position groups, plus special teams, but never served as an offensive or defensive play-caller. On his current staff, every position group besides the running back room is now accounted for — the Gamecocks currently have four offensive assistants, four defensive ones and one special teams coordinator.
And on Wednesday, Beamer didn’t sound wedded to the idea that he has to focus on any one particular position.
“Ask me after that first practice and see where I veer to venture to in that one as well. You know, I talked to (athletics director Ray) Tanner and Chance Miller about this in the interview and I mean it — I’m very fortunate that in my career, I’ve coached a lot of different positions, whether it be outside linebackers ... and strong safeties here, corners here one year, running backs, tight ends. I’ve been a special teams coordinator,” Beamer said. “So I know enough, I think, to maybe be dangerous in those role roles and certainly want to bounce around.”
Beamer’s predecessor, Will Muschamp, is a defensive coach through and through, spending his entire career before becoming a head coach coaching linebackers and defensive backs. And even when he was a head coach, he admitted to spending more time on that side of the ball — in 2019, he tasked himself as the inside linebackers coach. Before him, Steve Spurrier was an offensive master and called those plays most of his career.
And Beamer himself has seen firsthand how the head coach at his last job, Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma, has been primarily responsible for one side of the ball.
“One of my first practices at Oklahoma after I got hired and I went back to Norman to prepare for the Big 12 championship, I remember in one of the initial practices, I was watching Lincoln and Lincoln coaches the quarterbacks at Oklahoma,” Beamer said. “I just remember thinking like, what exactly am I going to do in that first practice and where am I going to go and how are those things going to be?
“So I’m certainly not going to be one of those guys sitting on a golf cart. I’m certainly not going to be one of those guys that just stands in the tower for two hours. I’m high energy and I’m active and I’ll probably be bouncing around everywhere, but as far as a specific group, not really. Tight ends and running backs are what I’ve done most recently, but I also love being around the defensive guys also.”
Beamer also seemed to hint that, given his lack of experience as a play-caller, he would trust his coordinators on game days while still retaining the final say.
“I learned this from my dad — you hire great coaches and you let them go coach, whether that be Pete Lembo with special teams, Clayton White with defense, Marcus Satterfield with the offense. And coaches have said it before, it’s true; so many of those play calls, decisions that are made on Saturday are really decided during those long days and nights on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, leading up to Saturday,” Beamer said.
“So, obviously, as the head coach I’m going to be heavily involved, and I’ve said this before and I mean it, coming from the backgrounds that I’ve been around offensively and then coming from Lincoln Riley and that system at Oklahoma, that’s what I’m have been around, and not that I’m the most knowledgeable guy in the world, but I’d like to think that I could have a little bit of influence from a schematic standpoint when it comes to the offense and the defense and special teams.”
At the heart of his philosophy, Beamer said multiple times, is his desire to not “micromanage,” instead working more as high-level manager overseeing the entire operation.
This story was originally published January 30, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "What position group and how much play-calling will Shane Beamer handle for Gamecocks?."
