COLUMBIA, S.C. — The University of South Carolina Gamecocks have officially hired Shane Beamer as their new football coach, a move the school hopes will bring them back to the program's peak that began a decade ago when Beamer was an assistant at the school.
South Carolina Director of Athletics Ray Tanner announced the news Sunday, less than 24 hours after reports surfaced that Beamer was the man they had chosen. A news conference will happen at 2 p.m. Monday. where Beamer will make his first public comments.
"I believe that Shane Beamer is the perfect fit to be the head football coach at the University of South Carolina," said Tanner. "He has worked under some of the greatest coaches in college football and has taken those lessons to become one of the bright, young minds in the game. I believe Shane's energy, enthusiasm, commitment and fondness for our school and program will be met favorably by our student-athletes, staff and fans."
Terms of Beamer's deal were not immediately announced.
Around 2 p.m. Sunday, Beamer arrived in Columbia on the Gamecocks Athletics Department plane, where Tanner whisked him away in an SUV. The two then went to USC's operations center. About two hours later came the confirmation of the hire from Tanner.
Beamer, 43, has been an assistant coach at seven Football Bowl Subdivision schools for 21 seasons. During his career, he has coached in 17 bowl games, including a College Football Playoff National Championship Game, has posted 18 non-losing seasons, six of those with double-digit victories and his teams have won 62.5 percent of its games.
"I have been preparing for this moment my entire life," said Beamer. "I am ready and excited to be the head football coach at the University of South Carolina. I am thankful to all the head coaches that I have worked for, the assistant coaches and student-athletes I have worked with. My family and I are thrilled to be coming back to Columbia and the state of South Carolina."
He comes to Carolina from Oklahoma, where he has served as the assistant head coach for offense for the last three seasons. The Sooners led the nation in total offense, scoring offense and yards per play in 2018.
He's also the son of legendary Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer. But Gamecock fans will remember the younger Beamer's time as a member of Steve Spurrier's coaching staff from 2007 to 2010.
During part of his stint with the Gamecocks, Beamer was in charge of recruiting, and helped reel in some of the biggest recruits in program history. Some of those blue-chip prospects eventually went on to help USC to their greatest stretch in program history, where they won an SEC Eastern Division title followed by three straight seasons of 11 wins.
His 2009 class was ranked 12th-best by both Rivals and Scout, and the 2010 and 2011 classes were ranked in the Top 25.
"President (Bob) Caslen, (Senior Deputy Athletics Director) Chance Miller and I talked to some outstanding candidates for this position," said Tanner. "Shane's candidacy set the bar high as we were talking to other coaches. I want to add my appreciation for Chad Chatlos of Turnkey Search, who helped us navigate through this process."
During Beamer's tenure as recruiting coordinator at Carolina, nine of his signees were selected in the NFL draft. Those include first round selection Stephen Gilmore (Buffalo Bills) and second round selections Alshon Jeffery (Chicago Bears) and D.J. Swearinger (Houston Texans).
The Gamecocks all-time winningest quarterback, Connor Shaw, and rushing touchdown leader, Marcus Lattimore, were also in the 2010 class.
Beamer replaces Will Muschamp, who was fired last month with three games left to go in the season.