Report: South Carolina Expected to Hire Shane Beamer as Next Head Coach

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It is a college football Saturday, which means there have been plenty of news and topics to cover. The biggest news of the day, however, didn't break until close to midnight.

According to Bruce Feldman with The Athletic, Oklahoma assistant coach Shane Beamer is expected to be named the next head coach at South Carolina. The Gamecocks parted ways with Will Muschamp in mid-November.






This is an interesting hire, but it could be a good one. We actually mentioned Beamer as a possible candidate for South Carolina following the firing of Muschamp last month.

While he is young and lacks head coaching experience, those close to him have a tremendous amount of respect for the son of former Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer.

One thing that will play to Beamer's advantage is his experience with the South Carolina program. He was an assistant for the Gamecocks from 2007-10, and his time there included stints coaching the cornerbacks (2007-08) and linebackers/special teams (2009-10).

Beamer is also familiar with the SEC.

This is now his fourth stop with a program in the conference. Besides his time at South Carolina, he has also had stints at Tennessee (2001-03) and, most recently, Georgia (2016-17). This will be his first head coaching gig, however.

The Gamecocks hired Beamer away from Oklahoma where he was the assistant head coach and coached tight ends. Spending time under another young coach like Lincoln Riley who once lacked experience running a program could prove to be beneficial for Beamer.

No, this isn't Hugh Freeze or Billy Napier, but it is an intriguing hire. Remember when everyone criticized Arkansas for bringing in Sam Pittman with no head coaching experience? If you can find a true leader of men, you are in good shape.

Will that be Beamer? There's no way to tell right now. But if you're South Carolina, you might as well take a chance, right? He just needs to make sure to hit home runs with the coordinator hires.

Follow Clint Lamb on Twitter @ClintRLamb.