Did Mark Stoops take a shot at Shane Beamer?
Gamecock football coach Shane Beamer recently participated in a video from the university’s creative team that went viral, capturing millions of views on social media.
It seems that Kentucky head football coach Mark Stoops was not impressed.
In the video, released in advance of South Carolina’s appearance at SEC Media Days, Beamer donned a backwards hat and sunglasses while mimicking singing a Soulja Boy song and dancing with players from his team.
One of Beamer’s SEC East counterparts, Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops, seemed to take a shot at Beamer while speaking recently with Ryan McGee and Marty Smith.
Said Stoops: “I talked years ago about climate versus culture. It’s easy to change a climate. You just change a uniform, talk a little game, dance around, put on some stupid sunglasses. You can change a climate. But you can change a culture at the core.”
“I feel like Mark Stoops is talking about Shane Beamer here,” said Kentucky Sports Radio’s Adam Luckett on Twitter.
While Beamer drew strong reviews during and after the season for engineering a better-than-expected Gamecock football campaign, he’s been lauded more strongly for the shift in culture of the program.
That includes members of his own team, many of which have gone on record publicly about the difference they have noticed in one year under Beamer.
“Before coach Beamer got here, (the locker room) was all about me. How I can get to the league? What can I do to better myself?” Gamecock football defensive tackle Zacch Pickens said at SEC Media Days. “It was never what can we do better? What can we do to grow as a team? It was always a me mentality. When that went away and he got us to start caring about each other, we started winning more games. Coach Beamer did that. He’s the reason for that change. He showed us what it was like to win because we had never seen it before.”
More than one Gamecock football star player added additional context in an interview with ESPN.com’s Chris Low during the summer.
“Guys want to be here. Everybody in the building is more positive. We didn’t have that before Coach Beamer got here, and that’s why we’re ready to take that next step,” said tight end Jaheim Bell.
“He’s not one of those coaches who talks it,” added Cam Smith in the ESPN story. “He does it.”
