Shane Beamer agrees to become South Carolina’s head coach, sources say

Beamer Ball is coming to South Carolina.

Shane Beamer, Oklahoma’s assistant head coach for offense, has agreed to a deal to become the Gamecocks’ next head football coach, sources told ESPN late Saturday night.

A press conference to introduce Beamer is scheduled for Monday, sources said.

Beamer, who has worked at Oklahoma for the past three seasons, was unavailable to coach on Saturday night in Norman during the Sooners’ 27-14 win over Baylor. Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley said he hadn’t spoken to Beamer on Saturday, but added, “If [the report] is true, certainly excited for him. Those are the opportunities you don’t always get. “

One of the coaches Beamer wants on his staff is Connor Shaw, the Gamecocks’ all-time winning quarterback. Shaw is currently South Carolina’s quarterbacks coach and previously served as director of player development.

Earlier Saturday, Scott Satterfield of Louisville and Billy Napier of Louisiana, who were also considered top candidates in South Carolina, announced that they would remain in their current schools. Jamey Chadwell of Coastal Carolina and Brian Johnson, Florida offensive coordinator, were also interviewed for the job.

Beamer, the son of Hall of Fame coach Frank Beamer, emerged as a favorite shortly after South Carolina fired coach Will Muschamp on November 15. He received strong support from some of South Carolina’s most prominent football alumni and met Gamecocks officials two weeks ago. . Beamer was a South Carolina staff assistant under Steve Spurrier from 2007 to 2010.

In 2009 and 2010, Beamer was South Carolina’s recruiting coordinator when the Gamecocks collected some of their best recruiting classes in school history and served as the basis for three consecutive seasons of 11 wins and three consecutive top-10 finishes in the latest polls.

Walking back Marcus Lattimore, the school leader with 38 hasty touchdowns, joined Shaw in that recruiting class in 2010.

“Coach Beamer is someone who will impress you with his love and enthusiasm for the game,” Lattimore told ESPN. “He makes you want to play for him. He is smart and handsome. He loves his family. That should tell you everything you need to know about how I feel about him and this job. ‘

Gamecocks’ signing course in 2009 included cornerback Stephon Gilmore, receiver Alshon Jeffery and safety DJ Swearinger, all of whom still play in the NFL.

Patrick DiMarco, a Pro Bowl fullback with the Atlanta Falcons in 2015, played in South Carolina when Beamer was on the staff and strongly supported the recruitment.

“I have every confidence that Shane will put together a great staff that will light up the scoreboard and make Carolina exciting again,” DiMarco told ESPN. Shane has affiliations with the state and the university and owned the state during his time at USC as a recruitment coordinator. He helped bring in South Carolina recruits such as Marcus Lattimore, Alshon Jeffery, Jadeveon Clowney, Stephon Gilmore and many more . “

Los Angeles Chargers Pro Bowl defensive end Melvin Ingram, a consensus All-American in South Carolina as a senior, recently tweeted that Beamer would “bring back the culture.”

Beamer, 43, has never been a primary player on offense or defense during his career, but he has experience on both sides of the ball and has coordinated special teams as well. He has spent the past three years as Riley’s right-hand man on the offensive, coaching the Sooners’ tight ends and H-backs as well.

Riley said last month that Beamer would be a “really good head coach” and added that Beamer “had a great experience, being able to work with different guys and different programs in different parts of the country.”

South Carolina spoke to Riley about the Gamecocks’ main job heading into the 2016 season before hiring Muschamp. Riley, then 32, was in his first season as an offensive coordinator / quarterback coach in Oklahoma.

Beamer, who played for his father at Virginia Tech, wanted to make his own name in the coaching world before returning to coach under his father from 2011 to 2015 as an associate head coach and running backs coach. Before returning to his alma mater, Beamer coached under Phillip Fulmer in Tennessee, Sylvester Croom in Mississippi, and Spurrier in South Carolina.

And after leaving Virginia Tech when his father retired after the 2015 season, Beamer worked two seasons under Kirby Smart in Georgia, making it Beamer’s fourth other SEC stop.

Muschamp was fired with three more games in his fifth season on the track. He was 28-30 overall in South Carolina and recorded more wins in his first three seasons (22) than any coach in school history, but the Gamecocks were only 6-14 in Muschamp’s last 20 games.

Just seven times in the school’s history, South Carolina has won more than eight games in a season, and Spurrier was responsible for four of those seven seasons.

ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg contributed to this report.