Like many of you, I found myself in front of a television set on Wednesday night, dialed into ESPNU for the first episode of “Welcome Home: South Carolina Football.”​

Gamecock football getting the reality TV treatment? Yes, please. As we’ve established, I’m one of those fans that needs to know every single thing that’s happening within my program.

When it comes to South Carolina football, no detail is too mundane. I need everything.

I need video of guys chatting and laughing on the sidelines during a spring game. I need to see film of strength and conditioning coaches yelling and hyping players like jacked-up drill sergeants. I need to see footage of Associate Athletics Director for New and Creative Media Justin King sitting in his office in front of a computer.

I need everything. And this show had a lot of everything.

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Within minutes of the program’s beginning, I realized just how rusty I am in the art of watching television programs live. Does anyone actually watch a show at the exact time it starts anymore here in the Age of Streaming? “Where did all these commercials come from, and why do they keep popping up just as I was starting to get really interested?” I kept thinking.

Still, every time my attention began to wander during a “Certified South Carolina Grown” spot, I’d get snapped back out of the daydream whenever coach Shane Beamer appeared onscreen.

Tens of thousands of Gamecock fans would agree with me when I say that Beamer has something, what some sports observers have always called “it,” what others would simply describe as charisma. Or charm. Or personality.

Call it whatever you want – juice, swag, style, magnetism, vibe, whatever. However you define it, he seems to exude it, and all of it was on display during each minute of “Welcome Home.” With every passing day, Beamer seems more and more like the right person at the right time for South Carolina football.

[Join us Aug. 20 at Steel Hands Brewing for the 2022 Gamecock Central South Carolina football Kickoff Party]

There’s still plenty of work to be done, of course. The Gamecocks had to scrap and claw and pull a few upsets just to get bowl eligible in Year One of the Beamer Era. And we all know that charisma alone won’t win football games on Saturdays in the SEC.

But Beamer found himself very nearly building a program from scratch in the wake of the wreckage he inherited at the end of 2020. And the first step to doing so was simply getting attention for his school, his team and his state.

The first step was selling a program, using the time-honored art of winning friends and influencing people.

So far, I think we can say that mission has been accomplished. And ESPN seems to agree.

Using What You’ve Got

Can a college coach win without charisma in 2022?

Indeed.

Alabama’s Nick Saban radiates a kind of frightening, white-hot intensity during press conferences and even routine sideline interviews. Whenever he’s in a place where he’s required to address the public, he doesn’t seem to particularly want to be there, and he makes us aware that he doesn’t.

When he tries to dial down the ferociousness to show us that he’s actually a regular human with a personality and emotions and feelings and stuff – like in those clunky AFLAC commercials – he ends up coming across so wooden and so dry that it seems like you could light him on fire using a Bic lighter.

“Charming” is simply not the word anyone would use to describe Saban.

Still, he’s been convincing the nation’s best athletes to come to Tuscaloosa for 15 years, and he did the same at LSU, and when he was at Michigan State, he somehow convinced the players he had there that they could win Big 10 football games with regularity.

So yes, winning can be done without charisma.

But if you have it, why not use it to its maximum effect?

And if you’re at a place like South Carolina, leading a program that has often struggled to gain respect in the Southeastern Conference and the nation, why not, as Don Corleone once said, “use all of your powers, and all of your skills” to grab the college football world by the lapels and demand that it pay attention to you?

Why not win as many friends and influence as many people as you can?

Ready for Our Closeup

Charisma doesn’t begin and end with Beamer inside the South Carolina football building. In fact, one of the most interesting parts of watching “Welcome Home” was seeing just how exuberantly so many members of the Gamecock roster carried themselves in front of ESPNU’s cameras.

For someone like me who grew up in the 1980s watching so many nervous college athletes – many of whom came from small towns and had limited exposure to the media – stammer with downcast eyes and soft-spoken voices through postgame interviews, it’s almost disorienting to experience the camera-savviness and confidence that today’s players project.

These athletes grew up on social media, filming themselves in hundreds of Instagram and Twitter and TikTok videos by the time they’d reached high school. Chatting in front of a camera is a way of life for them, whether they’re holding a phone to capture themselves or standing in front of an ESPN videographer.

In addition, the attention surrounding high school sports and recruiting has expanded into another galaxy during the last few decades. All of it adds up to a roster full of Gamecocks who are personable, articulate, fun and enjoyable to hang out with during a 30-minute television program.

When you have charisma, the question always becomes: Will you use it for good or evil?

[RECAP: ‘Welcome Home: South Carolina Football’ – Episode 1]

The direction of the program starts at the top, and Beamer has thus far channeled his own charisma to create a culture that operates as a family, and values togetherness, support and positivity.

That’s why I’m as hopeful as I’ve been in a very long time about the direction of Gamecock football. And it’s why I’m hopeful that the positivity flowing off the field at South Carolina leads to positive results on the field, starting this September.

Tell me your thoughts on the first episode of “Welcome Home” by writing me at [email protected].

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