The South Carolina Gamecocks are rebuilding after a down 4-8 season in Columbia. In what was his worst season since he arrived as head coach in 2021, head coach Shane Beamer admitted in a recent interview that he enters the 2026 season square on the hot seat.
Well, Coach Beamer seemingly isn't the only one who thinks so. On Tuesday, CBS Sports released their hot seat ratings for each FBS head coach in the country. Using a sliding numeric scale of 00.0-5, with 5 being the "win of be fired" metric, CBS Sports gave Coach Beamer a 4.3 hot seat grade.
Using CBS Sports' metrics, any head coach that finds himself in the 4-4.99 range is graded as "start improving now," which sounds about right for Coach Beamer. Included in the 4 scales along with Beamer include Maryland's Mike Locksley (4.9) and North Carolina's Bill Belichick (4.1).
Shane Beamer will likely be coaching to keep his job in 2026
It's no secret that Beamer, who is 30-33 overall as a head coach, will need to have a big season in 2026 to stay put in Columbia. While it's true that South Carolina does have a particularly tough schedule, featuring games against Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Texas A&M. But if the Gamecocks fail to at least make a bowl game in 2026, Beamer Ball will likely be coming to an end at South Carolina.
And as CBS Sports rightfully points out, five of the eight coaches who got ratings of 4.1 or higher were fired, including Arkansas' Sam Pittman, Auburn's Hugh Freeze, and Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy, UAB's Trent Dilfer and Virginia Tech's Brent Pry. But coaches like Oklahoma's Brent Venables. Arizona's Brent Brennan and Cincinnati's Scott Satterfield had strong seasons that kept them in place at least another year.
Although South Carolina athletic director Jeremiah Donati has denied Beamer being on the hot seat, Beamer himself knows that he is.
“I just think it’s the profession that I chose," Beamer told The Post & Courier recently. "You look at any coach in the country, especially in the SEC because of the intensity in this league, if you don’t have a good season the year before, you’re immediately on the hot seat the next year. It is what it is.”
Sure, Beamer has done a good job in acquiring players in the transfer portal and adding big names to his coaching staff, like offensive coordinator Kendal Briles. South Carolina has also got a lot of momentum on the recruiting trail recently, as well. But only time will tell if he wins enough to keep what he is building going.
Per the USA Today's coaching salary database, Beamer's buyout as of Dec. of last year was $27,903,958. So that number is likely slightly lower entering the 2026 season, although an official number isn't expected to be released until later this year.
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