Shane Beamer dissects state of coaching industry in college, NFL ranks

South Carolina was subject to plenty of criticism after it hired Shane Beamer as the Gamecocks’ next head coach, succeeding former head coach Will Muschamp. But despite his lack of head coaching experience, Beamer far exceeded expectations in his first season at the helm of the program, turning in a 6-6 record and winning the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.

Beamer acknowledged, however, that in today’s climate, it’s critical to win from day one. After all, many head coaches aren’t given the luxury of patience quite like they used to. As more and more schools filter through head coaches in short spans of time, Beamer reflected on his father Frank Beamer’s coaching career, a legendary run at Virginia Tech that would not have been possible if not for some patience.

“It’s absolutely changed,” Beamer said of the coaching landscape. “I can go back to my dad at Virginia Tech and you look at the beginning of his career, he won two, three, six, six, five, two before he won nine and then started the bowl streak. I mean, in today’s time, he’d never (do that). He probably wouldn’t have gotten past the second season, much less the sixth. So, it has certainly changed.”

Beamer also acknowledged that NFL and college football has suffered from the newfound desire to win now, and the ever-changing coaching landscape in 2021 resulted in a record number of firings — including former LSU head coach Ed Orgeron, who won a national title just two seasons ago.

“Not just in the NFL, if you look at college football and you go back to Gene Chizik at Auburn, wins a national championship and is fired, what, two years later. You look at LSU, they made a change and fired a coach that won a national championship two years ago. You look at Florida, they made a change and fired a coach that won an SEC Championship and New Years Six bowl game last year. And I just think it’s — there’s a lot of reasons for it, there’s a lot of money involved in this profession, there’s a lot at stake on Saturday afternoons in the fall for a lot of different reasons. It’s just very much, society-wise, it’s very much instant gratification and immediate ‘what have you done now?'”

Beamer, of course, exceeded expectations in his first year at the helm of South Carolina. His job is more than safe. But, as he noted, the “days of having five, six years to build a program” are no more. It’s win now — or find a new job.

“You better find a way to win now. I think people are realistic, but I think every situation is different. Those schools I talked about, those are all different situations,” Beamer said. “You see NFL coaches get fired after a year. It’s tough. It’s a great profession that I’m in, I love it and I’m extremely grateful to be standing up here as the head coach at South Carolina, but it is a tough, tough, tough, vicious profession at times. Obviously, head coaches are one thing, but you don’t think of all the assistant coaches and their families that move to Houston, Texas, or wherever. You don’t think about all the support staff people. And it’s a tough part of it, but it’s the business we signed up for.”