Shane Beamer doesn’t have a staff—much less an offensive coordinator—in place yet, but he already knows what he’s looking for out of each unit and will make hires accordingly.

Beamer hasn’t been a coordinator on either side of the ball yet, but has an idea of what he wants each unit to look like next season.

“At the end of the day we want to be tough. It starts with toughness. It starts with being physical. Offensively I know you have to be multiple and have the ability to run and pass from a system standpoint. You have to be able to do both,” Beamer said.

“This league is tough. We will be able to do both. You have to be explosive. The name of the game is explosive plays. We have to be able to create those through scheme and recruiting. We will.”

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Beamer has spent the last decade on the offensive side of the ball—coaching running backs at Virginia Tech before tight ends at both Georgia and Oklahoma—but has experience in all three phases.

He was special teams coordinator at South Carolina from 2009-10 and again at Georgia from 2016-17. He coached cornerbacks in his first assistant job at Mississippi State before coaching linebackers and corners at South Carolina.

“Defensively you have to be multiple. Offenses are too good nowadays,” Beamer said. “You can’t line up in the same thing every time and allow teams to attack you that way. You have to be able to affect the quarterback on defense. You have to be so good fundamentally. You have to be fundamentally sound and be good tacklers. Those are things I believe in and we won’t deviate from.”

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While he hasn’t been a coordinator at any level, he has experience working under Kirby Smart and Lincoln Riley, two coaches who have led teams to the College Football Playoff.

He hasn’t divulged anything about a schematic style of play, but does want to be able to adapt the scheme to fit personnel.

“One thing I learned from Lincoln is your system has to be flexible enough so you can adjust it to the strengths of the players you have. Our offensive system is a lot different now this year with Spencer Rattler, our quarterback, than it was last year with Jalen Hurts and a little bit different the year before with Kyler Murray,” Beamer said. “You have to have a system that’s flexible enough to accentuate the positives you have to work with.”

The good news for him is Beamer is familiar some with the Gamecock offense, having spent time this season watching the 2020 Gamecocks and keeping tabs on the team from Oklahoma.

That will help him some determine what the Gamecocks can do on both sides of the ball next year if a lot of the core pieces return.

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“I’ve watched Carolina play a lot this year on television. I was joking with Todd Ellis earlier that every Sunday night my wife and I recorded the coach’s show to keep up with Carolina football and what’s going on,” Beamer said. “I have a pretty good idea of the players in this program and what we do well.”