Shane Beamer remembers the first time during the search he spoke at length with Ray Tanner about the South Carolina head-coaching job.

He was in his office in Norman, Oklahoma with pages of notes he wrote sprawled out on his desk, eager to talk some of the points he scribbled out at the drop of a hat.

“We talked for over an hour that first night and not one time did I look at a single page of notes. I was speaking from the heart. It wasn’t something I had to cram for or prepare for 24 hours. I knew what I felt about this place. I knew what I believed in as a football coach and what I wanted this football program to be about,” Beamer said.

“It was near and dear to my family and I and it was something I enjoyed talking about. It wasn’t a sales job.”

Also see: More notes on the Gamecocks during a coaching change

Beamer followed up his hour-long talk with Tanner with an over five-hour interview with Tanner, university president Bob Caslen and deputy athletic director Chance Miller.

It was in this marathon of a meeting—where Beamer joked he got one bottle of water and no bathroom breaks—where Beamer was able to lay out his plan for success at South Carolina, which was one of the biggest reasons he was named the Gamecocks’ head coach.

“There are a lot of things that stood out, but his preparation. You heard his conversation; he was extremely prepared. At one point we’re asking some questions and he handed me an iPad that was loaded,” Tanner said. “He handed Chance Miller an iPad that was loaded. He had each of us our own iPads loaded to show us his plan and where he was headed.”

The interview covered a bevy of different topics—from “A to Z, I can assure you,” Ray Tanner said—crammed into the hard drive of the iPads, ranging from potential coaching staffs, support staff to culture and everything in between.

The biggest thing Beamer hoped the administration took away from the meeting was his passion for not only being a head coach, but also being the head coach at South Carolina.

Also see: Behind the scenes from day one of the Beamer era

“We talked about the things I believed in and the things I believe in as a head coach and the things I’m passionate about,” Beamer said. “How much I love this place and how much I want to be the head coach here and why. All that went throughout that and I hope my passion for this job showed to president Caslen, coach Tanner and Chance and that passion resonated with them because I certainly felt it.”

Beamer didn’t lay out a support staff structure or name any potential assistants, but did say in his press conference he wants to bring in a “premier” staff and wants high-character people in the building.

While Beamer hasn’t been a coordinator or head coach yet, his plan on success at South Carolina really sold Tanner.

“His vision, his plan, he’s been doing this for a long time,” Tanner said. “He’s been at a lot of different places with a high, high level of success. He’s been with some premier coaches n this country.”