Shane Beamer heaps high praise on Mark Stoops, how he has built Kentucky

South Carolina and Kentucky square off this weekend, in a matchup between a veteran and youthful head coach. Wildcats head coach Mark Stoops is in his tenth season as their head coach, as he’s slowly but surely built the program up. South Carolina second-year head coach Shane Beamer is looking to do the same in Columbia, and gave praise to Stoops for his work in Lexington.

“Yeah it’s right up there for sure, what did he win two games his first year and I think five his second year? So he won two games his first year, he won five his second year, and then he just continued to just build that, and it shows that it takes some time,” Beamer said. “The administration gave him the resources and he’s done a great job. And just thinking of it, I’m biased, I think my dad is right up there at the top, certainly coach Snyder at Kansas State, and you know just trying to think of them.”

Beamer is familiar with the lay of the land in Kentucky, as his father, legendary coach Frank Beamer, coached at Murray State in Kentucky prior to a 29-year coaching stint with Virginia Tech.

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“It’s good, I lived in the state of Kentucky for eight years when my dad was the head coach at Murray State, so I grew up, I think I mentioned this last year, kids coming into the school and having show and tell from going to see the Kentucky basketball team and Mel Turpin and Kenny Skywalker and all these guys on an away game. And that was like show and tell Soutwest Elementary School in Murray, Kentucky, so I feel like I have a lot of familiarity with Kentucky football and Pookie Jones that played there back in the day was from Murray, Kentucky,” Beamer said reminiscing.

Beamer elaborated on his understanding of Kentucky sports culture, and the importance of their growth over the years, which Stoops has played a significant role in the past decade.

“So I’m very familiar with the program, and I don’t wanna say I watched it as I was growing up, but living in that state you understand how important UK athletics is in the state along with Louisville,” Beamer explained. “And it’s a proud program with a great fan base and great support and they’ve continued to just elevate their program, and to me they’ve got great consistency.”

Kentucky’s steady growth has led them to becoming one of the nation’s top teams last year and this season, and a tough opponent for anyone to face.

“The team with these guys you have to beat them, they get games in the fourth quarter and they find ways to win it, like Ole Miss the other day, they just kept chipping away and next thing you know they’re in the fourth quarter with a chance to win the game with under a minute left,” Beamer said.

Beamer will be looking to build South Carolina back up to a national power similar to Kentucky over the next few years. But for now, his focus will be on beating a Wildcats team that’s been loaded with talent the last couple of years, including this one.

“So you gotta go beat them, coach Stoops has done a great job elevating it and really impressed with just the way they play and they’ve got really good players. I mean you look at last year’s team there’s a bunch of guys that I think are on NFL rosters now and there’s a bunch of guys this year that’ll be on NFL rosters also,” Beamer said.