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South Carolina players give Gatorade bath to Shane Beamer, avoid drenching son on sideline

Untitled design (2)by: Sam Gillenwater08/31/25samdg_33
South Carolina HC Shane Beamer
Dale Zanine | Imagn Images

Today’s win was a special one for Shane Beamer with No. 13 South Carolina opening with a 24-11 victory over Virginia Tech, the school formerly coached by his father in Frank Beamer, in the Aflac Kickoff in Atlanta. His players celebrated with him accordingly on the sideline, while also doing his son a solid.

Coming to the end of the 13-point win over the Hokies this afternoon, DLs Nick Barrett and Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy doused Beamer in a Gatorade bath. First, though, Barrett moved Hunter Beamer, his son who came down to the sideline by that point to be with his dad, out of the way before drenching their head coach.

In the only head coaching job of his career, Frank Beamer spent nearly three decades with the Hokies from 1987 through 2015. He went 238-121-2 (.662) while in Blacksburg, which makes him the school’s all-time winningest coach by far and has him just outside the top-ten in all-time wins in college football as a Hall of Famer. Shane Beamer, with his own history with the Hokies, played for them from and graduated from there from 1995 to 1999 and later spent another half decade on his dad’s staff from 2011 to 2015.

That made this a family affair for the Beamers in the respective openers for South Carolina and for Virginia Tech, with Frank Beamer going with wearing a quarter-zip today for the Gamecocks that also had a pin on it for VT. Still, both schools meant a lot and still mean a lot to both the father and to the son.

“Two schools that mean so much to us. Two really good coaches – up and coming, top of the list, do it the right way. You know, it’s just a game of two great programs and, you know, can’t wait to see,” Beamer said pregame. “I said, well, one way or the other, I’m going to be a little bit happy and a little bit sad either way, however it turns out.”

“Yeah, I played it down a lot. Just, blessed. I thank God every day for these players on this team. I mean, they’re so awesome. We made it hard on ourselves. It was ugly, but they’re such a great group of young men that I get to coach. I’m so blessed. Thank God for that,” said Beamer on the field postgame. “Credit for Virginia Tech, too. Brent (Pry) is the right coach for that program. They’re going to win a bunch of games this year. But, this is pretty special.”

LaNorris Sellers gifts game ball to Frank Beamer after win over Virginia Tech

South Carolina knocked off Virginia Tech today in a game that carried a little extra significance for Shane Beamer, and his players apparently knew it. The tie-in? Frank Beamer, his father, was the long-time coach at Virginia Tech, who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2018 largely due to his contributions to the Hokies.

So, after the game, QB LaNorris Sellers made sure to seek out Frank Beamer. When he found him, he had a game ball to hand him from the win for the Gamecocks. Beamer was beaming as he received it, with it clearly being a special moment for him too.