Shane Beamer has seen a lot of different football programs and has worked on a lot of different coaching staffs. After finishing his football career at Virginia Tech, Beamer took his first coaching job as a graduate assistant at Georgia Tech under George O'Leary, working on the offense side of the ball with the quarterbacks and wide receivers.
Beamer went on to work as a graduate assistant at Tennessee in the early 2000s and then made his way to Mississippi State, earning his first full-time coaching job as the cornerbacks coach and recruiting coordinator. In. 2007, Beamer took the first of two jobs at South Carolina under Steve Spurrier to work with the outside linebackers and as the special team's coordinator. Two years later, he also became a recruiting coordinator and brought in a lot of talent to play for the Gamecocks.
After working for four power conference football programs, Beamer returned to his Alma Mater and worked under his father, Frank Beamer, coaching the running backs. Beamer saw some controversy working at Virginia Tech, but he also saw time as an interim head coach when his father needed throat surgery and won the game.
After his father announced his retirement in 2015, Beamer chose to move yet again and took a job working under Kirby Smart at Georgia as the tight ends coach and special team coordinator. While at Georgia, Beamer appeared in his second-ever National Championship helping the Bulldogs get to the final of the College Football Playoff.
After beating Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl in the CFP, Beamer made the big move to work for the Sooners as Lincoln Riley's assistant coach, specifically for the offense, as well as coaching the tight ends and H-backs. In his three seasons with the Sooners, Oklahoma won three Big 12 Championships and has two CRP appearances.
When Beamer took the job as the head coach at South Carolina, he left the Sooners as the top candidate for the job after Will Muschamp was fired. Beamer is very familiar with the Oklahoma Sooners and their program, working higher up in the coaching staff just a short time ago.
The Gamecocks have never faced Oklahoma in football before, and now that they are in the SEC, they get a chance to lace them up against the Sooners. Beamer will return to Norman for the first time since he left the program to take the head coaching position at USC. Even though the coaching staff is different from when he left with Riley going to Southern California, Beamer might have a little insight into how Oklahoma plays.
Beamer has spoken about his time in Norman and how it was one of the best places he coached, and it is the place he has most of his memories from. Beamer was able to grow the most as a coach at Oklahoma, giving him his best chance at getting the head coaching job he has now.
Even though there will be a lot of memories and nostalgia going back to Norman in the Beamer household, he also knows he is going to do his job and get out of there with a win, a win he desperately needs.
Beamer's coaching seat is starting to heat up with fans getting restless and the Gamecocks being 3-3 on the season. A win against SEC newcomer Oklahoma would help to calm the cries for Beamer's job and remind fans that it is a process working as a head coach.