How Mississippi State set Shane Beamer on path to become South Carolina football coach

COLUMBIA — Woody McCorvey roots for South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer on 11 Saturdays each season.

The Clemson chief of football administration is loyal to the Tigers when the rivalry game comes each November, but he can't help feeling pride in Beamer's success as a part of his coaching tree. The Gamecocks coach called plays for the first time in his career on a Mississippi State practice field under McCorvey's guidance.

"We always had a scrimmage with our younger guys out at practice to do our reminders from the week, work corrections and all that ... After a couple sessions, I let Shane call the plays," McCorvey said. "You never know when something might happen, and I wanted somebody else, if something happened to me, to be able to call the plays ... so the rest of the year for those scrimmages Shane came up with his own plan."

Beamer held his first full-time job as an assistant coach with the Bulldogs from 2004-06. Now in his third year leading South Carolina, Beamer will go head-to-head with his former team when the Gamecocks (1-2, 0-1 SEC) host Mississippi State (2-1, 0-1) at Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday (7:30 p.m., SEC Network).

Why Shane Beamer stood out at Mississippi State

McCorvey was running backs coach at Tennessee when he first met Beamer, then a graduate assistant under Phillip Fulmer. When McCorvey started at Mississippi State in 2004, coach Sylvester Croom asked if he knew any promising young coaches he could bring in. Immediately, McCorvey recommended Beamer.

"The first name that came to my mind was Shane," McCorvey said. "I just really liked his work ethic ... He was a note taker, and I guarantee if you go back now, Shane's still probably got a lot a lot of those notes."

Ryan Hollern, now the college scouting coordinator for the New York Giants, started volunteering with Mississippi State in 2003 and stayed on as a graduate assistant after Croom took over. Though they are only about two years apart in age, Hollern remembers how veteran the 27-year-old Beamer seemed.

"It just felt like Shane was so seasoned, and I was so green at that time," Hollern said. "Shane came from football heritage, but you would never know it just from the person ... My first impression of him was very likable, approachable, knowledgable, but also humble.

Beamer began as cornerbacks coach before transitioning to running backs in 2006, and McCorvey said his versatility was unique even at that time when staffs were much smaller.

Hollern saw Beamer embrace his move to the offensive side, eager to meet the high expectations of Croom, who coached running backs in the NFL for 17 years before Mississippi State.

"Shane attacked that position change with such a positive energy," Hollern said. "Even though it was brand new, he'd have a detailed answer for all the questions the players might have. You just kind of see like, if you understand football, you work hard, even if you've never done it before you can get it done."

Where Shane Beamer became an elite recruiter

On top of his position coaching duties, Beamer's first full-time job included the title of recruiting coordinator for the Bulldogs. Without current technology back in 2004, Beamer remembers frantically printing out MapQuest directions before high school visits.

"You'd print it out and you're like, hopefully this is right because if not, I'm in the middle of Mississippi and have nowhere to go," Beamer laughed. "I'll never forget the first school I ever went into was Hazlehurst High School in Mississippi ... and I'm just assuming I'm going to get to Hazlehurst and find a hotel. Well, there's no hotels in Hazlehurst."

The staff turnover didn't leave much to work with in the beginning, as Mississippi State's 2004 recruiting class ranked No. 56 nationally in the 247Sports Composite. The incoming talent immediately increased under Beamer: He brought in the No. 27 class in 2005 and had top-40 classes for 2006 and 2007.

Beamer brought the Gamecocks a similar spike. He inherited the No. 80 freshman class from Will Muschamp in 2021, which jumped to No. 24 in 2022 and No. 16 in 2023. South Carolina's 2024 class currently ranks No. 19, which would mark the team's first consecutive classes inside the top 20 since 2011-12.

Hollern, who went on to serve as the Bulldogs' coordinator of recruiting operations from 2006-08, said Beamer's greatest skill was always his relationship building.

"Relationships, whether it's 2005 or 2023, are always going to be key," Hollern said. "He always had a really strong understanding of the landscape of recruiting, and being a younger coach, he had great presence in recruiting meetings. I think Shane is still that same way, just easy to get along with."

How Mississippi State prepared Shane Beamer for South Carolina

Croom inherited a program in disarray when he was hired at Mississippi State. The Bulldogs were placed on a four-year probation by the NCAA in 2004 and lost eight scholarships over two seasons as punishment for recruiting violations committed under former coach Jackie Sherrill from 1998-2002.

Mississippi State also had not had a winning record since 2000, with just eight victories over the final three seasons of Sherrill's tenure.

"When we first got there, Mississippi State was in bad shape. The culture that we were trying to establish there, so many guys left the program, and we had to build that program up," McCorvey said. "(Beamer) wasn't the coach, but he saw what it had to take to be able to establish a program and a culture and get it where it needed to be."

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Though the Bulldogs never had a winning season with Beamer on staff, the program made its first bowl game since 2000 in 2007, a year after he left to serve as an assistant at South Carolina under Steve Spurrier.

When Beamer returned to Columbia as head coach in 2021, he faced a similar uphill battle. South Carolina had won a single bowl game since Spurrier's retirement in 2014, and the Gamecocks won six games over Muschamp's final two seasons. Beamer's 2022 squad earned the program's best record since 2013 and its highest College Football Playoff ranking in history.

"When I see Beam just talking on ESPN, his command and presence seems even stronger," Hollern said. "He's always had it, but through the media and TV, to see that part evolve doesn't shock me. You just feel a strong, present head coach."

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This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Mississippi State shaped Shane Beamer as South Carolina football coach