Shane Beamer shares biggest difference since Year One at South Carolina

A lot has changed since Shane Beamer took over as the coach at South Carolina three years ago. After back-to-back losing seasons in the two years before he arrived, the Gamecocks strung together two straight winning records in 2021 and 2022.

South Carolina finished ranked No. 23 in the AP poll to close this past season, the first postseason ranking for the team since 2013. All that has provided plenty of optimism for the program heading into Beamer’s third year at the helm.

Appearing on the Next Up with Adam Breneman podcast, Beamer explained what he believes is the biggest difference from when he arrived in Columbia to now.

“Probably just guys have a better understanding of what we expect and how things are done,” the coach said. “Year 1, it seems like you were coaching up every little thing on and off the field. There’s just a better understanding from a leadership standpoint. Players know how we want things done. They’re able to kind of police things and enforce things in the locker room a little bit better.

“Then just on the field, I would say just an understanding of how we practice and the competitive spirit that we want to practice with. The physicality we want to practice with. Those are the things that, Year 1, I think you were trying to teach and instill every day. Now there’s a better understanding of how we do things here.”

Beamer went on to explain how how surprised he was in his first season to see how unconfident the players were. Changing that mindset was a challenge for him, and the first year the Gamecocks basically alternated between winning and losing each week.

However, they ended their season with a victory in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl against North Carolina. That marked the team’s first bowl win since 2017 and signaled the start of what the coach hoped to build.

“The lack of confidence that our players had (was surprising),” Beamer said. “I get it. It had been back-to-back losing seasons. But that was a surprise. Coming in and they had dealt with some adversity obviously the previous two seasons. 2020 was when I got hired. That was the COVID year, so it was kind of crazy for everybody. But just the lack of confidence. The guys, there wasn’t a sense that they were very good. To be an SEC football program and a program that was just a couple years away from being in a bowl game and things like that, that was surprising.”

To close Shane Beamer’s second season at South Carolina, the Gamecocks managed a pair of wins against top 10 opponents in Tennessee and Clemson. Quarterback Spencer Rattler shined in those games and returns in 2023 hoping to lead the program to even greater heights.

It’s safe to say that Beamer has raised expectations in just two years at the helm, and he’ll look to continue to build on that success in Year 3. The Gamecocks are scheduled to open this season in a little less than three months on Sept. 2 against North Carolina.