Shane Beamer explains hot dog comment from Saturday, frustration with chain crew
At the beginning of his Tuesday press conference, South Carolina coach Shane Beamer clarified a bit of an odd comment he made following a loss to North Carolina. He essentially blamed the chain crew for delaying an onside kickoff to start the second half because they were eating hot dogs at halftime.
Beamer’s comments were made in frustration following the game, and he came back Tuesday admitting as much and at least partially absolving the chain crew.
“Before we get into Furman, didn’t think on a Tuesday I’d be talking about hot dogs but certainly want to clarify any comments from last Saturday night,” Beamer said. “The chain crew was not our issue on Saturday night. North Carolina was our issue in the way that we played.
“The point I was trying to make was that’s a really, really critical play to start the second half when you’re going to surprise onside kick and it’s disappointing that our kickoff team took the field, UNC’s kickoff return team took the field and then the official comes over or game management comes over, and I didn’t make up the hot dog comment, I was literally told the chain crew was in the locker room eating hot dogs.”
South Carolina actually executed the onside kick perfectly, with kicker Mitch Jeter recovering his own knock to give the Gamecocks the ball to start the second half with excellent field position.
Beamer’s frustration then, which boiled over in his postgame comments, was not so much with the outcome but the process.
“This wasn’t me trying to be a smart you-know-what, I was relaying the information that was told to me, which is disappointing because that’s a play that’s basically another way to ice the kicker, if you will,” he said.
“That’s not an easy kick to make, what Mitch did. And I watched coach (Mack) Brown‘s press conference, and he talked in his press conference after the game that they were telling their team to watch out for the onside kick to start the second half. He said he told his team that. So that’s an extra timeout for them because the chain crew wasn’t out there. That’s the frustrating part with me, you’re worried about our players executing it. Now they’ve got longer time to get ready for it. Or we do to think about it. Then also it’s an extra timeout for the opponent to be over there, to coach their guys up to prevent it. So I certainly was frustrated with that and that’s where that comment came from.”
Beamer went back and then defended the chain crew, making it clear he didn’t have issue with them outside of that minor delay.
“Thought the chain crew was phenomenal the rest of the night, other than that one thing. One of the best chain crews I’ve ever been around. So no hard feelings with the chain crew. That’s not why we lost the game. There were a lot of reasons that we didn’t perform well. The chain crew wasn’t one of them, I was just frustrated.
“You would hope in an environment like that on national television in a big-time game to start the second half, that when the entire football team for the University of North Carolina and the University of South Carolina is out there that we could get the chain crew out there as well.”