Shane Beamer edit
Thu, Jun 20, 2024 6:55AM • 48:54
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
coach, people, south carolina, season, team, day, program, learning, writing, game, locker room, talk, players, read, head coach, whatnot, book, football, love, leader
SPEAKERS
Shane Beamer, Paul Barnett
Paul Barnett 00:03
Coach. Shane Beamer, good well, it's good morning for you, and welcome to the great coaches podcast.
Shane Beamer 00:09
Well, I am honored to be on here with you. It's good evening to you, and definitely good morning here where I am, but really excited to visit with you. And thanks so much for having me on. Oh,
Paul Barnett 00:19
it's absolutely an honor to have you on. I'm you've got the be I was just saying you've got the best backdrop of anybody I've interviewed so far. So I'll put a picture of that up online for everybody to have a look at. That is a fantastic book case. Perhaps, actually, we could start there. Could you maybe just tell us where you are in in the world? Coach Beamer, and what exactly is behind you? Yeah,
Shane Beamer 00:42
currently sitting in my office here in Columbia, South Carolina, and our football facility across the street from our stadium and and in my office. But yeah, everything behind me is one helmets of of where I've coached. So this will be my 25th year in coaching coming up. So it's helmets of the different schools that I've worked at before I got here to South Carolina, that's at the bottom. And then there's pictures of, you know, family, and pictures of some great moments that I've been able to share with some awesome people throughout my career. And then game balls of some big wins that we've had here at South Carolina and other places as well. So lot of great memories and plenty of space on those shelves, believe it or not, to continue to add to it as well.
Paul Barnett 01:33
I'm sure there is. I know that you've, you've got high expectations for the program, but let's, I don't know, let's start with some of the terrific coaches that you've worked with. I was preparing for today, and I could see names like George O'Leary. You talk a lot about Steve Spurrier, and of course, you worked with Kirby smart for a while too, and I'm sure there's many, many, many others. I mean, Don Staley's not far away from you either. I'm wondering from your interactions with all these people, what is it you think the great coaches do differently that sets them apart? Yeah, you're right.
Shane Beamer 02:06
I've been around some fantastic coaches, all with different styles, all at different stages in their career, whether it be first time head coaches or guys that were towards the tail end of their career or in between. Um, been around some great ones, and I feel like I've taken from from all of them as I've shaped my philosophy, coaching style, whatever you want to call it.
But I think the great ones that I've been around there's a few things. One, they're they're they're never complacent. They're always thinking about, you know, how to be better. There's not a well, we just won this great win and and we're going to celebrate it, and then that's going to take a celebrate it too long, and it's going to take away from the next game. Or we just had this great season, and we've all of a sudden arrived, and then you take a breath. You know, there's no taking a breath with those guys. It's constantly pushing to be better and never complacent. I think there are guys that are willing to maybe think not so much, think outside the box, but they're always trying to stay ahead. I think they have a great vision of what's next, what's coming, whether it be from football landscape in regards to recruiting, or whether it's X's and O's the schematic part of it on the field, they're always trying to stay ahead. But then also think there's a there's a consistency to all those guys as well. You know, yes, they evolve, they change, they don't get complacent, but there's also a consistency in how they do their job day in day out, that they don't deviate far from that, but they're making the necessary tweaks that they need to to be great. In my opinion,[PB1]
Paul Barnett 03:52
you mentioned couple of things that they you mentioned complacency twice, and you mentioned they're always wanting to be better. Now I know, I think I know that you love to read. So these are obviously habits that you're trying to develop as well. I'm just curious, is there been anything you've read recently that's had an impact on you?
Shane Beamer 04:12
Yeah, I do love to read. It's hard, like I'm during the season. I really don't a whole lot, just because it's so busy, and by the time I get home at night, I'm usually crashing and and whatnot. But when our season ends in December, January, each year, I really try and read a ton between then and the next season as well. And you know, I love, I love learning and reading about other coaches. So if there's a book out there by about a coach, I've probably already read it, or I'm about to, and then love leadership and love I'm a history buff, so I just love history in general. So I was trying to think, I think I try and do a good job of when I do read something, writing down notes on it, or I can refer. Back to it and things like that as well. So I was thinking about the most recent ones that I've read. There's a book by the red by the book by the name of sideline CEO. It's written by Marty Smith, who works for ESPN and is a great friend of mine. But that book's right up my alley, because all he did was just interview great coaches, football coaches, basketball coaches, and just talk to him about leadership. So if you haven't read it, you should check it out. I think you would love it. Will online CEO Marty Smith, and there's a lot of things that I took from that that it was typically college coaches that he interviewed, and was able to take just, you know, hearing from other coaches and learning from them and their thoughts on leadership. I thought that was that was really good on the leadership category. There was a book that I read about Abraham Lincoln and Sons of Abraham Lincoln, books out there, but this was Abraham Lincoln and just his leadership style and how, you know, he was able, back when everything was going on in the 1800s during his presidency, how he was able to, you know, bring so many people together, and it was because of his leadership style. So that book was Lincoln. Lincoln on leadership is what that book was. I think it was by Donald Phillips, if I'm not mistaken, I'm not a I'm not against soccer. I'm just not a huge soccer fan. Football in some parts of the world, obviously, but it's and it's not that I'm not a fan. I think it's a beautiful sport, and one of my best friends is the head soccer coach here at South Carolina. But I have, I don't know a lot about soccer, I should say, but I did read a book about just Liverpool and their their turnaround, and that was called believe us, and it was just about their manager coming in, and how he took that Liverpool program and club and turned it around, not just on the field, but just the the culture of it as well. And that was a really cool book that I read. They're actually coming here to have a match in August here to Columbia, South Carolina. So that'll be kind of funny that I read the book, and then they're coming as well. And then I'll, I'll keep going forever. But there was one, probably the most recent book that I read was hidden potential, and that's a book Adam Grant, and somebody in the inside you would enjoy that, but that was really good. And it talked a lot about, you know, how about just the people's potential, but it talked about, about about learning styles, and I've shared this with the coaches on our staff. You know, I've always been one of those guys that thought, Alright, the way a player here learns is that that's their learning style. If you say I need to be able to I can go in a meeting room, if I'm a player, and you can show it to me on video and I got it, that's my learning style. Or maybe I need to be able to meet one on one with a play a coach needs to meet one on one, and that's his learning style, or maybe he actually has to go out on the field and do it. And I'd always kind of been under the belief, okay, that's you. If whatever you say is your learning style, is your learning style. But that book talked about how you know people's learning styles maybe isn't the learning style that they say. They say it because it's the one they're most comfortable with. But it's not always the best learning style for that particular tactic or technique that they're trying to learn, and it might be something that in order the old analogy like you got to, you know, get out of your comfort zone in order to grow some people to be able to learn this technique or learn this scheme the best learning style for it may not be the one that they're most comfortable with and they enjoy. It might be something a little bit outside their comfort zone. So that was kind of eye opening to me, when you think about it and and continue to make me just think and and learn. So those are four that I've read most recently, and just started another one last night about history. So I'll give you an update on that one whenever I get that one done. Also,
Paul Barnett 09:03
I'll follow up with you. Well, there's four terrific ones that I haven't read. I've got hidden potential. Someone, someone handed me that, but I haven't read the others, so be adding them to the list. But Coach bemi, you said something interesting. There. You talk about one on ones, you know. And some people learn through one on ones. When you got to South Carolina, you had over 100 meetings with every single player. Now there'll be a lot of people listening that have done the, you know, the 90 day plan, go off and meet your ins, meet to keep people, get insights, and so forth. But I'm not sure anybody met. Andrew had 100 meetings, and that's not even including the staff who were on top of that, can you tell me about those sessions and what you took away from them? Yeah, that
Shane Beamer 09:45
was fantastic for me. One it was so going back to when I was hired, I was hired at the end of the 2020 football season here. So 2020 obviously you're at the height of covid. So college football. Seasons were adjusted in 2020 because of covid, games were getting canceled, postponed and whatnot. The team here won two football games in 2020 and then the coach that they had come to play for got fired, and then I was hired. So I was coming in at an end, at a time in December of 2020, where there wasn't a lot of positive energy and confidence and things like that here in this program. So, you know, the biggest thing is, I'm a people person, and I believe, as a coach like I've got to I love the I love connecting with people and just getting to know people. So that's really, you know, what those meetings were? You there's a lot that you have to get done.
And when you get hired as a head coach, you're right. People have like, a a 10 day plan, 30 day plan, 60, but 90 day well, to me, nothing was more important than getting to know the players on our football team and who they are and what makes them tick. And, yes, recruiting, you had to do a lot of that and fundraising and putting together a coaching staff, but the most important thing are the your own players. So those meetings were for me. I got hired, and then immediately just started meeting individually with the players in our program, and they were all pretty straightforward. What we talked about, it was, you know, telling them about me, because certainly they're sitting there trying to decide if they want to play for me as their head coach. So telling them about me, but then I would ask them, all you know, where you're from, tell me about your family. What are you majoring in? What are you interested in? Academically, we would talk about that. Just want to get to know your basis. But I asked every single one of them, why did you choose to come play football and go to school here at the University of South Carolina? And that helped me, because it kind of helped me put together an idea of why, why, why the young men on our team are choosing to come to South Carolina, and it's still a sheet. It's actually behind me over my left shoulder. It's still a sheet that I still refer back to, because it's probably the same thing now, whether it be that it felt like home, or it felt like family or they love the academics, so just seeing one why people are coming here, but then the probably the biggest thing that I took away from it would be also ask them all, like, Why? Why am I here now? Like, why are we a two win team? Why did the coach you came to play for? Why did he get dismissed? I was hired. We're a two win team. Like, why are we in this position and what has to change? And it was great just hearing their answers. [PB2]
And I literally just sat there with like a yellow legal pad. And anytime somebody told me something, I wrote it down, and then if somebody said it again, I've, you know, checked it, so there's two times, three times, and then I added it up, and, you know, the same things kept coming up over and over and over again. So that told me, as a coach coming in, right? These are the things that we have to attack, these are the things that we have to combat. These are the things that we have to change. But it also, it's not something that I was put away in a drawer. It's something that I still refer to. Going back to your first question about the great coaches, and you're never complacent and and whatnot, like I'm, I'm very cognizant of the fact that can't let those things that were an issue back in December of 2020 creep back in. And you know, our first season, we had two really good years. We we exceeded expectations this past season, probably, uh, didn't exceed expectations and didn't finish the season like we wanted, record wise. So I met with every player. I meet with every player into the season, but I met with them after this season and asked them, you know, what do you think happened? Why did we not have the year that we wanted? And it wasn't identical to the things that people were saying in 2020 but there were signs of some of the things that were maybe issues in 2020 couple things here and there that I didn't see as the head coach that kind of sparked up. It made me that made me think so I'm just on constant guard going back to those 2020 meetings to make sure that we don't ever get ourselves in that position again and staying ahead and it's hard now, harder now than ever, because of college football, players can transfer and change schools freely multiple times a year, so every year it's essentially starting over. But those meetings were really beneficial for me to learn why guys came to school at South Carolina, so that helps us in recruiting. Now, what the issues were in 2020 the things we needed to change that we immediately went to work on doing, and then also just getting to know guys on a on a personal basis, and making them realize, hopefully, that I was somebody that they wanted to play for here at South Carolina would
Paul Barnett 14:39
have been exhausting, but I guess it's given you great insight to go off and and build the program. Now, Shane, you, you talk about the Tony Dungy quote quite a bit, and I believe the quote is, whatever you are is what you have to be. Now, Tony is, of course, a multiple time, uh, Super Bowl winner. He's a great coach. He's written extensively. He's the father of 11 kids as well, which. Gives his his insights even even a deeper level of depth. But can you tell us why this quote resonated with you so much?
Shane Beamer 15:07
Yeah, it's, it's, it's, to me, it's powerful, because I've been around some great coaches like I alluded to at the beginning of this, and I've taken something from from all of them, but I can't try and be those people. I have to be me. So in other words, okay, I'll work for Steve Spurrier here at the University of South Carolina. There's things that I took from Coach Spurrier that absolutely were positive, positives that, you know, I've tried to implement and whatnot, but I can't, I can't try and act like Steve Spurrier and be Steve Spurrier. I worked for Kirby smart, University of Georgia, has won multiple national championships. There's things that I took from Kirby and his program, but I can't try and be Kirby smart. I have to be me. And you know, two words that always come up with high school prospects, young men that we're recruiting to our football program, two words that always come up with their families when they describe myself or our program and coaching staff, they use the words real and they use the words genuine, meaning, you know, we are who we are. And I think sometimes you see a lot of coaches that maybe act one way around recruits, but then when people get into their program, they act a little bit different, or they have this persona that they want to carry themselves like on television. But then you talk to people and they're like, that's not who that guy is at all. You know, that's not him. And I don't ever you don't want to be fake, because I think what Coach Dungy alluded to and said in regards to that quote was, you know, his his personality, his style as a coach, was very even keel, mild mannered. You didn't see him doing a whole lot of screaming and yelling on the sidelines during games. And his point was, if he wasn't successful as a coach, people would say, well, he wasn't fiery enough and he wasn't emotional enough on the sideline, he was too even keeled. But then he also said, when he won a Super Bowl and he was extremely successful, and as one of the best coaches ever in the NFL, people said it was because of his style. He was very, didn't get too high, didn't get too low. He was very, you know.
So whatever your style is, they're going to, you know, they're going to pick it apart, and it's going to be the reason you fail or the reason you're successful in people's minds. They can twist the narrative. So his point, I thought it was so true. It's just, you know, be who you are, and I'm a guy. I am who I am. I don't try and act one way and be another. I am who I am. And I think that's something all the great coaches are, they are who they are. Coach Pereira had his personality, and that's who he was, or is on the field and off the field and whatnot, and and I've just always tried to remember that take, take something from everyone, but at the end of the day, you gotta be yourself and and be real, and not try and carry on a persona of this is how a head coach is supposed to act. So this is what I'm going to do. I mean, don't get me wrong, there's people, there's things that you have to do as a head coach that, yes, these are head coach things, and you do need to carry yourself this way, but as far as personality and how you treat people and what you believe just be you,[PB3]
Paul Barnett 18:29
there's it's such so refreshing to hear you say that given the the places you've coached and the pressure that's been on you through some of those rather big name programs, but I want to just circle back a Minute. I mean, I know you were a bit disappointed with the way this season finished, but in those first two years at South Carolina, there's some great underdog moments. There's winds against Kentucky, Florida and then Clemson. And I'm wondering, as you reflect back, if there's any learning you take out of that around what the things underdogs have to do to be successful? Yeah,
Shane Beamer 19:06
now we've been a team knock on wood. We've always we've always finished the season on a strong note. And even this past season, we won three out of four games to finish the season, and won one of those games as a as an underdog and and whatnot. You know, for us, it's just, it's, I feel like it's my job, or one of my jobs, as the head coach, as the leader, to instill confidence and people you know throughout the building and and how I carry myself, so certainly, trying to, you know, instill confidence in our guys throughout even when you when, when, when you are an underdog, talking about the opportunity, you know, one of our, one of our most lopsided losses we've had here, was we lost to the University of Florida in 2022 at Florida. I mean, we got hammered by 30 plus points, I think. And. Played awful, coached awful. I was terrible that night, but immediately we had Tennessee coming to town the next week, and we were going to be a 20 point plus underdog. Tennessee, I think, was ranked number five in the country. But immediately after that game down in Florida, immediately after the game, in the locker room, I talked to the team about the opportunity that we had coming the next two weeks, that we weren't the team like I don't know what happened just out there on the field against Florida, but that's not us, and we're going to learn from this loss, but we're immediately going to get to work when we get back to Columbia on this upcoming week, because of the opportunity, the opportunity that's available now in front of us to play Tennessee and then Clemson, back to back weeks, both of them were top seven, top six teams, whatever it was, and we just had a great opportunity in front of us. So I think that's the biggest thing, is one instill in confidence when you are an underdog, they understand the opportunity that you have. And then certainly, you know, we've got a group of guys on our team here that they they've typically performed better when they have a little bit of a chip on their shoulder and when somebody's telling them that they can't do something. We've got a bunch of competitors on this team that want to that you can use that, you know, disrespect card, whatever you want to call it, to get that little extra, you know, fire out of them. So I'd say that's the that's the main things. And we just, you know, we really, really played well that that night. But also, think it go those nights. But also think it goes back to just, I mentioned early on, just the consistency of the the best coaches that I've been around, that's part of it. You understand that, that every week, some new season, every week is an opportunity. We only get 12 guaranteed games in college football, so you got 1212, weekends, 12 Saturdays. And that's what your judge doing. And the meet when one doesn't go well, you immediately get a great opportunity the next week to to to make it go. Well,
Paul Barnett 22:00
you've talked a lot about consistency already in this interview, and I, I mean, it's a great aspiration to have, you know, staying in that sort of narrow band, not getting too high, not getting too low. But what happens when you make a mistake and you do get a bit higher, a bit low, and you might, for instance, take something and break your foot. I'm wondering what you do to acknowledge that, adjust and move on. What have you learned about that? That next step, that response,
Shane Beamer 22:30
yeah, you make to me, You admit a mistake and you're honest, and you show you, show you try and show you your human side as well. And certainly it's it's hard. I mean, we play games in front we get 12 Saturdays a year, and we play games in front of 8090, 100,000 fans, and the pressure is high, the expectations are high. And I love that. You know, as a competitor, you want to be a part of that, but it's, it's an emotional game as well. So I'd be lying if you know Sid that that it was, it was easy to always keep those emotions in check and not get too high, too low. But, you know, I'm, I'm surrounded by some great people and and when we do lose a game, things don't go the way that we want you do. Maybe let your emotions get the best of you. To me, it's something that you you address head on, and you're open and honest, and you maybe talk about why it happened and whatnot, and then you then you move on as well. So that's the best way I know to to to combat it. Yeah,
Paul Barnett 23:44
I think it's, it's a leadership moment, isn't it? And your response, I think people remember the way you respond to things, not necessarily the event itself, yeah, when you're standing in front of them, particularly if that response is vulnerable, human and positive. I think it really resonates with people you're referring
Shane Beamer 24:03
we lost, you know, we lost to Florida this year, and it was a tough, tough, tough loss. We had, you know, two opportunities to end the game in the fourth quarter, and we weren't able to. And then some crazy things happen. They had a ball go through their receivers hands ricochet off his hands right into the hands of one of their other receivers who caught the ball in stride. It was just a crazy game and and, you know, I came off, I came off the field, and it wasn't a it wasn't a moment in front of our football team, because they hadn't even gotten in the locker room yet, but there was a Gatorade cooler that was on in the floor, and I really I was jogging into the locker room, and I really hardly even broke stride, but I did kick it out of frustration, and it wasn't like I had a complete meltdown in the locker room and was throwing chairs and things like that in front of. Team. No one saw it except my wife and kids. And that's, you know, you're in that moment. Yes, you're a coach, but you're also dad, yeah, yeah. Well, it wasn't in front of the team. The team didn't even see it the but my wife and kids saw it. So I felt terrible as a dad that, you know, I needed to be calm and cool for set, and they see their dad come in off the field and kick a cooler. And really don't even think I kicked it that hard, but apparently I did, because I ended up breaking a little bone in my foot. But I had to, you know, I talked to you guys about keeping your emotions in check, and I didn't do a great job of that. And then, you know, it would have been easy for me to just make up a story to tell the players that, you know, I jumped up on the sideline and came down on my foot the wrong way, but trust as a core value of this program. I wasn't going to lie players. I wasn't going to lie to the media if they saw me limping around. So I just what I just said, just addressed it head on and was honest. And the easy thing would have been to say, make up a story about what happened, but I was honest, and took a lot of criticism for it. But, you know, at the end of the day, you know, admit what happened and move on and try and remember not to[PB4]
Paul Barnett 26:16
that's what the kid that's what the kids will remember. I think, Shane, can we go from coolers to note taking? Now it's an interesting part of your story. Actually, it comes up in a few articles written about you that you're a compulsive note taker. But not only that, if, if, if the article is correct, you were doing it from day one as an assistant, so way back with Georgia Tech in 2000 and it's almost, you know, reading about it, it seems like you were almost preparing from day one. You knew where you wanted to go, and you were heading in that direction. Now there's, there's many people listening who have a similar aspiration. You know that they're looking forward maybe 20 years, thinking, I want to get the corner office. I want to be the CEO, but perhaps they're not taking notes, or they're not observing, or they're not self reflecting, and I'm wondering if you could just talk a little bit about how that note taking has shaped you and helped you. Yeah, no,
Shane Beamer 27:15
it's been, it's been a huge one. I'm a guy, but I have to learn. I have to write everything down, you know? I mean, I'm just, that's just kind of how I retain information. And when I was here, so I was an assistant coach here at the University of South Carolina, previously, back in 2000 789, and 10. And Kim fields, who's currently, she's our assistant director of football operations here. She was working here with me at the time, and I just had all these notes of all these places that I've been and and started, and she helped me just compile it and pipe it up. She typed it up. I still have it at the desk behind me right here, but it was everything I knew early on that I've, you know a lot of guys that get into coaching, and they say they want to be a head coach, or they want to be an offensive coordinator or quarterbacks coach or whatever, and and certainly I had those goals, but ultimately I wanted to be a head football coach, and I just felt like, Okay, I'm working for some great coaches. I'm learning from all these guys. Let me, you know, start writing down things that I'm learning from them, but not just, you know, everything that I learned, but like breaking it up into sections. So it was ideas about when the team travels to an away game. Here's some things that we've done, or maybe I read in a book that another coach did, that I think are good ideas. Or maybe it's something that you do in, in practice, during practice, that I thought was a good idea, or maybe it was the weight room, you know, a schedule in the weight room, in the off season, just different things that quotes, great quotes, that are heard or read, that I would just write down, that, you know, still use a lot of them.
So it just kind of just became like a a book of everything, just kind of like a coaching philosophy that one, it helped me as an assistant. Kind of, going back to your question, people that may be listening that want to be a CEO at some point, to me, the things that I was doing, I was taking, taking notes on things that would help me be a head coach, but also were things that helped me be a great assistant coach as as well. I mean, you want to be the very best in the job that you're in, and then you get opportunities, not always just looking ahead to the next step as well. So these were things that were helping me be a great assistant coach, I felt like but also when I did get this opportunity, you know, you're never you're never truly prepared to sit in this chair as a head coach. You're never truly prepared to be the CEO of a company. I mean, you think you are, but there's so many things that come across that you haven't prepared for, that you never really thought about until you're actually in that role. But it helped me just having, you know, being compiling those notes that okay, if I ever do get an opportunity to be a head coach, kind of shaping. Philosophy, and I'm able to say, I this is how I want this to run. This is how I want this to run. This is staff members that I'm interested in hiring, people that I'd like to have here with me. Stuff like that. You're, you're kind of compiling that and and shaping that, you know, throughout the course of your career. So when you do get that opportunity, you're, not always, you're not going to be 100% ready for it, but you're probably a lot more prepared than you would have been if you were just, you know, coming up, coming up with ideas that day when you get the job. And like I said, it was something that I started, I guess, 17, 1617, years ago now that I still, you know, refer back to regularly, just things that were written down that still, you know, hold true, and things that I believe that I wrote down 17 years ago.[PB5]
Paul Barnett 30:48
Oh, fantastic. And I guess he's still doing it now. I mean, it wouldn't, wouldn't be something to stop just because you've gone
Shane Beamer 30:53
into this role. No, I'm, I'm doing it all the time. Um, I've kind of evolved from writing it down by hand, and then someone typing it up. I've evolved into good notes on my iPad, and now I'm better about writing things down, but yes, whether it be reading a book and taking what notes from a book that I've read, that I refer back to, or ideas as a head coach. I mean, I'm always writing down thoughts about, Okay, how did practice go today, next year when we do this, maybe think about this. So I'm constantly my coaching staff probably gets tired of me of going into staff meetings and saying I was looking at that. I was looking back at my notes from this last year and blah blah, blah, blah, blah blah, you know, as well, because I do that all the time, but I think it's good to be able to, you know, learn and make sure you don't make the same mistakes twice, and just when you have thoughts, write them down, and being able to refer back to them is huge. So, yeah, I'm doing it even more so now without a doubt.
Paul Barnett 31:57
Mitch Bema, what's the sign that you have on your desk?
Shane Beamer 32:02
I've got, I got about five of them that I look at right now as well. The biggest one is you can see that right there. It says, You
Paul Barnett 32:16
got this. You got this? Yeah,
Shane Beamer 32:19
that was actually Kim as well. I mentioned Kim putting everything together notes back when I was an assistant.
But you know, early on, when you first take over a program, there's a lot of stuff coming at you, and players leaving players coming, coaches leaving coaches coming, issues you gotta deal with, and it can be overwhelming at times. So that was, that was a gift, just as a reminder, like you got this and and know and know what you're doing as well. But the other things really are just about it's honestly about leadership. That one I have just I wrote myself, and it's framed that just basically alludes to the fact that as a leader, you have to love making tough decisions, and at the end of the day, you've got to do what's best for the program, that you're the program, company, business, that you're in charge of leading, and it's not necessarily personal, but at the end of the day, you have to love making tough decisions, and they're looking to you and see old saying as a leader you don't, you know, used to give as An assistant, you gave suggestion, suggestions. Now, as the head coach, you're the leader. You make the decision. So just a reminder that you have to love, you know, making, making tough decisions, and and, you know, and then a couple of things are just about, you know, leadership that leaders are, leaders are heat seekers, not heat deflectors. So you know that when you're in this chair, there's a lot of eyes on you, and the heat is on you, and you shouldn't meet as a leader. You better embrace that and not try and deflect it on the others as well. So those are the main things and just what's expected. You know a leader when there's confusion, a leader brings clarity when there's chaos, a leader brings calm when there's frustration, a leader brings peace when there's doubt, a leader brings belief and when there's adversity, a leader brings purpose. And I've always I've read that somewhere, and I just wrote it down. So I look at those things every day, just about leadership, because there are a lot of eyes on me in this chair, not just outside this building, but inside this building as well. I[PB6]
Paul Barnett 34:31
think your focus on just self reflection and learning is just such a great example for all those around you. You're really role modeling. I think the behavior you want to see in the people that are in your program, Coach Beamer, you've got another quote from I'd like to explore. You say, when you're in a leadership position, you have to be visible, you have to be connected. You have to care. Now you've got. I guess you've got over 100 players. I guess you've got over 50 staff, and then you've got all your stakeholders. On top of that, you've got your athletics director, and I'm sure 100,000 people coming to watch you. There's a lot of people that probably want free tickets. I'm wondering how you go about during a season. How do you go about enacting this? How do you go about being visible, being connected, and showing you care, yeah,
Shane Beamer 35:25
just starting with that being visible in our football facility. So you're right.
But then in the in the role that I'm in as a head football coach and on a college football team, it's not like pro sports where that coach maybe isn't as expected to be involved in the community and things like that. When you're in a we're in the capital city of South Carolina. This is a college town. We don't have a pro sports team here, so there's a lot of people that that want a piece of my time or want to see me involved in the community. So I try and do that as much as I can, and to stay connected to people that way. During the season, it's harder just because we're working a lot of hours and we're up here at night, but but Thursday night, we played on Saturdays. Thursday night, we do a weekly radio show at a restaurant here in Columbia where fans can come out and shake hands, take a picture, say hello. So that's an opportunity to connect with people and and continue to build relationships. And then outside of the season, trying to be, you know, as visible as I can, where people get to know, you know, get to know me as person, and not just, not just a football coach. Also,[PB7]
Paul Barnett 37:59
that must be tremendously draining. How do you do you have any routines? I mean, you talked about reading, you talked about your family. Do you have any other routines that help you recharge?
Shane Beamer 38:10
Yeah, exercise. I work out every morning, at 6am during the season. It's five, four days a week, you know, I'll be in the football facility at 6am and then on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and then Fridays, my wife and I, Friday's a little bit of a slower day. So on Fridays, my wife and I'll usually go for one or two hour walk in the mornings just to get a little bit of exercise. And then on Saturdays, I'll usually get up and go for a run, so doing some sort of exercise at least six days a week during the season, and then pretty much the same out of season as well. So that helps me. I'm a morning person. I like being up early. I need to get that exercise done early in the day or I won't get around to it. Because there's all these other things that keep coming up during the day that you keep you know, you'll put it all so that's one thing, is just trying to stay regular and consistent with exercise and taking care of myself. But that also helps me physically, obviously, but mentally as well, just kind of clearing my brain, giving me ideas, and I'll go exercise a workout, and things will pop up in my head that I'll immediately come back to my office and go back to those notes, write stuff down that I thought about, and then I feel like I do a good job of because of recruiting. You're never really off, meaning there's always cell phones, so there's a high school recruit that there's always there to call or text or whatever it may be, but I've tried to do a better job of when I am at home or with my family, like being present, or if I'm going to the beach for five, six days. Yeah, the work never ends, but really making sure I can get away from it for a little bit and and be able to recharge a little bit that way, because it is draining and it is a long season. People think it's, you know, 12 games, and there's this long off season. I mean, the off season, if you will, is just as busy as as the season. But those are things that, that, that, that helped me for sure.[PB8]
Paul Barnett 40:11
I listened to a wonderful commencement address you gave. I can't remember which class it was, but I managed to find it, find it deeply buried somewhere in YouTube, and yeah, you gave you talked, you had some really nice thoughts on building a team first mentality. And you sort of said, look, it doesn't matter whether you're running a restaurant, a youth team, wherever it is, a team, first mentality is important. Could you talk a little bit about that? I thought it was very human advice, and I'm wondering if you could just perhaps even replay that a bit for us. Yeah, it's, um,
Shane Beamer 40:48
it's harder than ever in in college athletics, or really in sports. You know, you have free agency and pro sports, and in college athletics, you have guys being able to transfer from year, from school to school, year to year.
So it starts in recruiting with bringing the right people into your program, bringing the right people onto your team, or if you're in a business or company that have the same values and are about the right stuff. So we really try and do a great job and work really, really hard at bringing people into this program, onto this team, that that have that team first mentality. It's okay to have individual goals. We all do, but not at the not at the sacrifice of the of the team, because the team is the most important thing as well. We talk a lot about personal accountability. Accountability is a core value of this program that we talk about, but we spend a lot of time talking about the personal accountability. Right outside our team meeting room is a sign that our players see when they walk in each day, and it says, what I do affects you, get out of yourself and into the team, meaning that every single one of us we have a personal accountability to one another. If I don't do what I'm supposed to do in this chair planning practice or planning the daily schedule, it affects everyone in this building. If our starting quarterback decides not to go to class for an entire week. Well, that affects everyone on this football team, and understanding that, yeah, you have personal goals, and that's great we all do, but making sure you understand that personal accountability that you have. It's not about you, it's it's you're accountable, you know, to one another as well, and then from a team first mentality, just the more that you can just get to know one another on those teams and build that personal connection with one another, if you will. Whether it be, you know, team meetings, where we get to know one another, or small groups where we get to know one another, or one on one, meetings with people outside of your position group, meaning that the running the coach that coaches the running backs, he's got great relationships with the running backs. That's awesome. He should, but I want him to have great relationships with the guys that play defense, that are the linebackers and whatnot. So just building those connections, recruiting the right people, understanding that we're all responsible for one another.[PB9]
And then two, you know, talk about it. You see a lot of people to get individual awards for stuff. They're typically not on losing teams. You know, the guys that win awards, whether it be for a company or a team they're typically on really successful teams that have won. So understanding that the more that we do together, it benefits, it benefits all of us. And, you know, there's the old saying, the power of the power of the team is each individual, and the power of each individual is is the team. And I believe that you know that we're all intertwined, and all make each other better.
Paul Barnett 44:02
You've been so generous with your time. I know you've got to get going. I want to just finish, if I could, by asking you about love. You do talk about it a lot. It's, I don't know. It's not, it's not, it's such a gladitorial sport. And I'm just interested when you talk about how you think about it in the context of your team? Yeah, look
Shane Beamer 44:26
at it as is a lot of things. One, you know, I love what I'm doing. I love who I get to do it with, so that that essence of the word love, but then also is,
I truly believe. You know, being connected and being a team is about loving and caring for one another. And people think love, you can't say that on the football team. And you know, it's not always wrap your arms around each other and and hunky dory and soft and sappy. So we say with our players a lot like love is also, you know, have. Hard conversations with people and being willing to tell them to truth. You know, because I love you, I need to tell you this. And because I love you, I'm going to make it really, really hard for you in the weight room, on the practice field, in order for you to be at your very best as as well. And I think it's very it's very powerful. I mean, one of our toughest losses that we've had here was my very first season. We played Texas, A and M, out in Texas, and got clobbered. And after the game, you do the things that you have to do from a media responsibility, so the game ends. And after every game to go in the locker room, talk to the team, then I immediately go meet with the media. So all the television, newspapers, radio, whoever, meet with them and answer their questions about the game. Then I go and I do a 10 minute radio interview with our radio network. They interview me about the game. I take a 30 minute television show that airs the next day, all that's after the after the game each week, win or lose. So it's a lot, but I've told this story before, and I'll, I'll always remember it. I was walking back into the locker room that night after all that stuff I'm feeling. You know, we talk about positive energy, not getting too high, too low. On the surface, I probably looked very consistent. I felt like crap that night after the way that we played. I mean, we were awful, but I'll never forget I was walking back in the locker room with my wife and one of our players to carry on. Joiner, he just graduated and just finished up, and is getting an opportunity in the NFL now, but as I was going in the locker room, he stopped me and grabbed me and gave me a hug. And this is my very first season, so this would have been like Game six or seven as a coach here at South Carolina. And I'll never forget he stopped me, hugged me, and he said, Hey, I want you to know I love you and we're going to get this right. And I'll never forget that moment. And that was a powerful statement for him to be willing to say that not just Hey man, we're going to be okay next week, but to actually look beyond say, Coach, I love you and we're going to get this right. And we did. We came back the next week and we were a three, three touchdown underdog, or Florida, and we beat Florida by, I think, 17 points or something, here in Colombia in our first season. So that's a moment that I'll always remember, and kind of goes back to what we want this place to be about. We want to be the closest team, the most connected team in the country. And we're not afraid to have hard conversations, but we're not afraid to, you know, tell, tell each other that we love each other as well. And the fact that, you know, players will call me and tell me that, or be in my office, and when they shake hands and walk out, they'll say that I think is pretty cool and and what it's, what it's all about. And there's a lot of great things about coaching, but the relationships that you're able to build with one another and the connections that you're able to make are right up at the top[PB10]
Paul Barnett 48:00
coach, beamer Shane, thank you so much for your time tonight. I can see that you've got a real vocation for coaching, for leadership, and you've got a passion for it, and it's it's been great to hear your story, and I can't wait to see what the team does next season.
Shane Beamer 48:14
Yeah, I appreciate it. We got to get you over here to football game this fall,
Paul Barnett 48:21
I'll be another person asking for free tickets. I'd
Shane Beamer 48:25
love to have you here. Let's just see what this place is all about. It's it's a rocking environment for football Saturdays in the fall, and we'd love to get you out here and experience it. But thank you for all you do and spotlighting coaches and and I'm going to be a new fan of this podcast and going forward and really honored to be on with you. You've got some great coaches on here, so I'm humbled to be one of them. Thank
Paul Barnett 48:48
you so much. It means. It means a lot to me to get that feedback. Thank you so much, Shane and all the very best.