From the start of the South Carolina coaching search, it has been paramount that the Gamecocks pick a coach to replace Steve Spurrier that is the right “fit” for the program. â€¨â€¨At this point in the search, if other options have fallen through or are sure to or are polarizing hires that would divide the fanbase, South Carolina athletics director Ray Tanner should give a long look to former Gamecocks assistant Shane Beamer.

News Note: South Carolina representatives have reached out to Beamer in the last 24 hours concerning the Gamecocks job.

Here are the reasons why...

Coaching staff

It’s all about hiring a coaching staff these days. The Gamecocks program took a nosedive under Spurrier, a future Hall of Famer, not because Spurrier forgot how to coach, but because he replaced very talented assistants, Beamer included, with inexperienced coaches and poor recruiters.

It’s no coincidence that South Carolina was at its best from 2010-13 when the staff that included Beamer, Jay Graham, Brad Lawing and Ellis Johnson, along with current assistants G.A. Mangus and Shawn Elliott, had set the table in recruiting. Spurrier spent 2005-08 coaching a mediocre football program before he finally made some big-time staff changes prior to 2009. The 2009 recruiting class, which featured Alshon Jeffery, Stephon Gilmore and Devonte Holloman, among others, laid the groundwork for South Carolina’s run of an SEC East title and three straight 11-win seasons. In the 2010 class, Marcus Lattimore headlined. In the 2011 cycle, Beamer’s last as recruiting coordinator, USC inked the No. 1 player in the country- Jadeveon Clowney- for the first time in school history.

Beamer, who arrived prior to the 2007 season and was named recruiting coordinator after 2008, also was instrumental in the hiring of several assistant coaches and served as a sounding board for Spurrier when many of those hires were made.

He would have no trouble attracting a high-level staff of recruiters, evaluators, innovative gameday coaches at the coordinator positions and player developers were he named the head coach at South Carolina. Beamer has worked at Tennessee under Phillip Fulmer, Georgia Tech under George O’Leary, Mississippi State under Sylvester Croom, the Gamecocks under Spurrier and Virginia Tech under his father, Frank Beamer and has developed countless relationships with outstanding assistants across the country. Given the resources South Carolina has from a financial standpoint, the chances of Beamer assembling a top-shelf coaching staff are great.

He’s prepared

Critics will point to Beamer’s lack of coordinator experience as a reason why he should not be considered, but the reality is that his career path has prepared him better to be a head coach. It would be a different story if the Virginia Tech grad had stayed in Blacksburg his entire career and only learned the “Hokies” way, but he’s branched out and has experience in the Southeastern Conference at multiple stops under various head coaches with different styles.

Here are some of the jobs that have prepared him.

-Recruiting Coordinator- Assembling a team and managing people

â€¨-Special Teams Coordinator- The only coach other than the head coach that coaches the entire team.

â€¨-Associate Head Coach- Handled day-to-day duties as his father’s right hand mand.

â€¨-Offensive and Defensive assistant- He’s coached both sides of the ball.

-Interim Head Coach- Led Virginia Tech to a bowl win last season filling in for his father.

We’ve spoken at length about the type of coaching staff that Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart or Auburn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp could assemble at South Carolina if they got the job. Beamer would ink a staff that was just as high level if not hire. Not being a coordinator actually makes working for Beamer more attractive. Coordinators want to be able to do their job (it’s tough calling a defense for Nick Saban or an offense for Urban Meyer, FWIW) and Beamer would allow them to do that.

Organization/Structure/Philosophy

South Carolina can look to the northwest corner of the Palmetto State to Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, who has his team in the mix for a National Championship, as a poster child for the value of organization and structure. Swinney took over the Tigers with less experience and preparation than Beamer has (in 2008) and has proceeded to maximize that program through assembling a great staff, being organized and focused in recruiting and bringing a great energy to the program. Swinney installed an innovative offense and an attacking defense (schemes prospects want to play in), let his coaches do their jobs and ran the show and it’s paid off huge for the Tigers.

Beamer would do the same for the Gamecocks.

Here is what you can expect philosophically. This is important to explain because many would just assume that whatever Virginia Tech was doing would be what Beamer would do. That’s not the case.

-A tempo-based offense that uses multiple tempos including a dynamic running game.

-An attacking defense that emphasizes pressure on the quarterback and forcing turnovers.

-Heavy emphasis on special teams.

South Carolina as a program has a talent issue right now (more on recruiting later) so as an equalizer, the Gamecocks need to be dynamic on both sides of the football and need to emphasize (not just pay lip service to) special teams.

One of the things that makes Meyer’s teams good- Meyer coaches the special teams himself. Beamer would do the same and it would be a point of great emphasis at South Carolina.

Recruiting

Beamer would put an outstanding recruiting plan in place at South Carolina. Having been at the school and having worked at other places in the SEC and ACC there is perhaps no other candidate that is better-suited to put a recruiting plan that works in place for the Gamecocks.

Among the highlights...

-Major emphasis in the state of North Carolina, which should be treated as an in-state territory by South Carolina.

-A renewed focus within the Palmetto State on elite prospects. South Carolina has fallen miles behind Clemson for the top talent in the state (and it’s been years in the making) and must have a plan to catch up.

-An emphasis on the 757/Tidewater area of Virginia. The dynamics in this talent hotbed have changed in recent years and more kids are looking to leave the state and play in the Southeastern Conference. Beamer has a lifetime of connections in this area and South Carolina is closest SEC program to the Tidewater.

-An emphasis would be put on recruiting experience/specializing in various areas when assembling the coaching staff.

-A great emphasis would be placed on not only landing the “no-brainers” but there would also be more time spent on the evaluation process (something that has been lacking) to ensure that there are far more “hits” than “busts” in the recruiting classes.

The bottom line. Recruiting would go from being somewhat of an afterthought under Spurrier to an area of great importance under Beamer.

Character

In recent days, many fans have pointed to former Georgia head coach Mark Richt as a desirable candidate at South Carolina and many have pointed to Richt’s character as one of the reasons why.

Beamer checks this box in a major way. He’s well-respected and one of the most decent human beings in coaching. He would approach the South Carolina job with a great amount of integrity and instill character and leadership into the program from top to bottom. This is one of the important characteristics that Gamecocks athletics director Ray Tanner is looking for in his next head coach.

Passion for the program

Beamer was born in the state of South Carolina (Charleston) and has a passion for the Gamecocks football program, the fans, the state and the traditions of the program. He’s also directly tied to and had a large hand in the most successful run in the history of Gamecocks football. He has been on the front line of building a winner at South Carolina and that track record is definitely valuable when you are talking about the experience of a potential candidate.

In an era where coaches (and especially media) are ranking jobs and preferences and screaming to the top of their lungs why you can’t win at a certain place or can win at another (and South Carolina has taken the brunt of a lot of that criticism), Beamer believes that it’s a place where you can win big. That’s important because after the Spurrier era, where 11-win seasons that featured falling short of realistic division championship goals were celebrated with rings because “it had never been done” the goal now at South Carolina is to not only get back to that level, but surpass that. Having a championship mindset is important at this point in Gamecocks football history rather than having a “hey this is pretty good for here” type of mindset.

Conclusion

The South Carolina coaching search has featured lots of twists and turns in recent weeks and lots of coaches (and their agents) using the gig to angle a better deal for their clients elsewhere. If the Gamecocks are going to hit the reset button and are truly going to look for a coach that wants to be at USC, that believes in the program, that has a great plan top to bottom with regards to organization, staff assembly, recruiting, scheme and philosophy and has a vision to lead the program beyond where Spurrier got it to (which is not the ceiling, BTW- one division championship in 10.5 seasons is not the ceiling at South Carolina), then the administration should block out the noise from the agents, search firms (which are a waste of money), fans who don’t understand and expect another Spurrier/Holtz type of splash hire, boosters and others involved and give great consideration to making an out-of-the-box hire in the form of Shane Beamer.