‘He’s himself around us’: How Shane Beamer has become the SEC’s minister of fun

Shane Beamer drew back a silver-headed putter, angling his ball toward a coffee cup on the other end of international ballroom B at the Omni Hotel.

His first putt was there speed-wise, but drifted just to the right. The second one? A little short. Third time’s the charm, right? A little left that time, though.

“0-for-3,” Beamer proclaimed as he dipped out of the room and strode through the back hallways that connect the Omni to the College Football Hall of Fame.

In a league comprised of egos bigger than the skyscrapers enveloping the Atlanta skyline, you’d be hard pressed to find a more easy-going persona than Beamer’s at the Southeastern Conference’s annual meeting of coaches and media members.

That’s not to say the SEC is lacking for coaching personalities. Brian Kelly’s geographically diverse accent (emphasis on the “ax” pronunciation) and dad-level dance moves have made for offseason fodder in Baton Rouge and beyond. Mike Leach’s insistence to avoid having a buffalo for a pet and thoughts on a 64-team playoff are a nice touch, too.

But armed with a pair of Pit Viper sunglasses and the backward ballcap he donned in a marketing video that lit up the internet ahead of his trip to Atlanta on Tuesday morning, Beamer might well have anointed himself as the league’s new minister of fun during his second run at SEC Media Days.

“It’s a high-pressure job,” Beamer said. “It’s demanding. You get judged on what you do on 12 Saturdays in the year. If you don’t win games, you get fired. But I’m going to have a hell of a time as long as I’m at South Carolina.”

Spend four minutes around Beamer and you’ll see why the second-year head coach is a videographer’s dream. Just ask South Carolina’s in-house video folks. They pitch. Beamer obliges. It’s that simple.

That’s how Tuesday’s 24-second viral clip came together of Beamer dancing and rapping to “Turn My Swag On” in a team meeting room at the Gamecocks’ practice facility before the short charter flight over to Atlanta.

You think Kirby Smart or Nick Saban are donning a pair of oversized sunglasses to lip sync a Soulja Boy song? That’s rhetorical.

“I told Commissioner (Greg) Sankey I was disappointed we didn’t have Soulja Boy as a walk-up song when I came up here as well,” Beamer chided as he took the podium.

The rigmarole of SEC Media Days is more daunting than television coverage might suggest. Beamer was only seven stations into his double-digit stop day when he paused to hit a few putts for a Sirius XM segment. But in his second go-around at this event, fueled also by an overly optimistic offseason, he’s at home in these settings.

Perched in front of a black fabric couch in a hotel suite six floors up in the north tower of the Omni Hotel, Beamer cracked jokes about pacing himself through the day’s festivities. He quipped he didn’t think he could pull off the pink ensemble receiver Dakereon Joyner flashed for the cameras in Atlanta on Tuesday.

A few news and notes were sprinkled into the just over 20-minute session. The rest? Just vibes.

“He gives us the ability to be ourselves, and he’s himself around us,” South Carolina offensive lineman Jovaughn Gwyn said. “We’re all more comfortable and freer when we’re out there playing.”

To be clear, Beamer’s fun-loving, wise-cracking attitude isn’t because of lacking competitiveness. Ask those who’ve known him longest and they’ll tell you how he was a ruthless rebounder in pickup basketball games as a graduate assistant back in the day. Last year, Beamer even snapped on reporters a handful of times defending embattled offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield.

This is what makes Beamer so fascinating in the modern construct of the SEC. That fiery personality bubbles just below his largely calm exterior. The lightheartedness, though, is what makes him a media darling.

Oh, he’s also the best dancer in the league, to boot.

“(Beamer) is definitely up there,” Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach said of how he’d rank SEC coaches by their boogieing abilities. “Let’s think this through. You’ve got to give Coach (Brian) Kelly an ‘A’ for effort, but I do think it was more effort than ability. ... I think Beamer is the guy to beat right now.”

In an offseason in which the SEC East is perceived to be wide open behind defending national champion Georgia, USC and Beamer have become Talking Season favorites.

Spencer Rattler’s commitment in December put South Carolina in the center of the college football conversation. Receivers Antwane “Juice” Wells and Corey Rucker have star potential the Gamecocks have lacked at receiver since Deebo Samuel bounced and bobbed through SEC defenses. There are enough returners to feel confident USC is more talented on paper than it was a season ago.

The future is seemingly bright at South Carolina. Beamer is bringing his smile — and his sunglasses — with him.