New Gamecocks head coach on Dabo comparisons: "To me, that's a compliment"

Swinney reached out to Beamer during the South Carolina job search.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Thu Dec 24 08:01:03 GMT-04:00 2020

Shane Beamer has heard the comparisons between himself and Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, and he considers it a compliment.

Beamer was hired last week as head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks, replacing the recently fired Will Muschamp in Columbia. Beamer was the assistant head coach/offense at Oklahoma, but he was as an assistant on South Carolina's staff under Steve Spurrier from 2007 to 2010.

In 2009 and 2010, Beamer was South Carolina's recruiting coordinator when the Gamecocks assembled some of their best recruiting classes in school history, serving as a foundation for three consecutive 11-win seasons and three consecutive top-10 finishes in the final polls.

Beamer said that comparisons to Swinney are flattering.

“I would say so,” Beamer said about the comparisons to Swinney. “I’m a confident, very positive, high-energy person, and that’s just how I live my life as a coach, a husband and a father. Life’s too short, and I want to see the good in everything. It would take a lot to get me down. I try to see the positive in everything, be constantly high energy. I’m a glass-is-half-full kind of guy, and try to be the same way every day. To me, that’s a compliment.

“It’s a rivalry, and a rivalry I can’t wait to get into and compete in recruiting with, on the football field with.”

Beamer said Swinney reached out while the job search was ongoing.

“But you’re also talking about a head coach that I have an immense amount of respect for who I consider a close, personal friend,” Beamer said. “I talked to him before I got this job and I’ve talked to since I got this job. I appreciate his willingness to reach out to me before and after and we’re going to try to beat each other’s brains out on the field when we play every November and we’re going to try to beat each other’s brains out in recruiting, for sure. But at the end of the day, he’s done a remarkable job up there and I think a lot of him.”

Clemson has won six in a row over the Gamecocks and Beamer knows one of his top priorities is stopping that streak.

“When I was in Columbia, I was on the early stages of when that five-year winning streak started against those guys,” Beamer said. “We need to get back to winning football games against those guys in November, for sure. We are hard at work at it already. They have done a great job of recruiting and that is obvious in the results on the field. I am worried about South Carolina and we will try to make our program better and move our program forward through recruiting and through our success on the field. We will close the gap.

“But I am not sitting here and trying to compare myself to Clemson every single day. I am trying to make Carolina the very best it possibly can be. If we do that, South Carolina is going to win championships and have a whole lot of success on the football field. And that's what I am excited about. All I am worried about is today.”