Scott Davis has followed Gamecock sports for more than 30 years and provides commentary from a fan perspective.

He writes a weekly newsletter that's emailed each Friday. To sign up for the newsletter, click here. Following is the newsletter for Friday, Nov. 19, 2021.

Scott also writes a weekly column that appears on Gamecock Central during football season.

You knew they’d ask him.

They had to.

With a head coaching position coming open at Virginia Tech, the place that just so happens to be South Carolina head football coach Shane Beamer’s alma mater? Yes. Of course. Because that’s also the place where his father Frank coached for nearly three decades, where his father became a certified legend and where the young Shane grew up.

It made too much sense.

Bowden at FSU, Bryant at Alabama, Dooley at Georgia, Beamer at Virginia Tech.

With that last name and that resume, they were always going to ask him, especially once we learned this week that VT would be parting ways with Justin Fuente after six up-and-down seasons.

So…Shane. You’ve taken a year and learned the head coaching ropes in Columbia, done battle in the SEC wars, figured out a few things. You interested in heading back to Blacksburg now?

His answer at a Tuesday press conference included many of the expected talking points: He’d always love Virginia Tech, but he was happy to be here. He didn’t act annoyed to be asked about his old school, didn’t get defensive the way that many prickly coaches often do (remember Nick Saban’s immortal, “I guess I’ll just have to say it – I’m not going to be the Alabama coach” just days before leaving the Miami Dolphins to indeed become the Alabama coach?)

We’ve heard college football coaches say similar things since the very first job opening was dangled some time back in the 1870s: “Honored to be considered, but I’m happy to be here right now.”

Despite saying those words, many coaches often forget they said them mere moments after they’ve been uttered, and bolt for bigger paydays or greener pastures, as Saban did. That’s why fans have developed rhinoceros-thick skins about such things over the decades – we’ve evolved to grow scarred and impenetrable hides to protect our hearts and souls from all the double-talk and sweet-nothings we’ve heard emanating from head coaches standing behind podiums across the years.

And if Coach Beamer had left it at that – “Honored to be considered, but I’m happy to be here right now” – we might be left to wonder whether another shoe could be dropping soon.

Then he hung the following paragraph on the board: “When I said this was my dream job, I wasn't just saying that to make it sound cool in a press conference or to get the job. This is where my wife and I and my family want to be. We didn't put that sign up over there at Williams-Brice Stadium to say 'Welcome Home' just because it was trendy or a slogan. This is home for me and I want to be the head football coach here at South Carolina. I love working for Ray Tanner and Chance Miller. They are fantastic. And we have an amazing relationship. I love this state. I want to live in this state. I love this city. I want to live in the city. I told our team a couple weeks ago, my son Hunter, he's in second grade and I want him to graduate high school from here in Columbia. And this is where I want to be.” (Beamer shuts down VT speculation)

For Shane Beamer, home in 2021 is Columbia, South Carolina.

I’ve learned to never say never.

Especially not where coaches and job openings are concerned.

I’ve been doing this for a long time. I was a student at South Carolina when USC alum Bobby Cremins publicly agreed to leave Georgia Tech to return to Columbia and coach the Gamecock men’s basketball team. He was actually introduced as the new head coach at a cringe-inducing press conference, told the assembled media and supporters about how his dream had always been to come back “home” to Carolina…then returned to Georgia Tech a few days later and humiliated his alma mater in the process.

I watched Nick Saban get as explicit as it’s possible for someone to get – “I’m not going to be to the Alabama coach” – and then do the exact opposite.

Still, this was about as emphatic an “I’m not going anywhere” pronouncement as I’ve ever seen a sitting head coach make regarding potential job openings. Beamer’s statement was specific, it was lengthy, it was celebratory (“I love this state. I want to live in this state.”)

This was not “honored to be considered, happy with the job I’ve got right now.”

For what it’s worth, I believe coach Beamer when he says this is his dream job.

I believe he wants to be here, now and in the future.

Of course, we don’t even know if Virginia Tech is or would be interested in bringing him back to Blacksburg. At 5-5, Beamer’s first edition of the Gamecocks are performing slightly better than Las Vegas predicted they would this year, but they aren’t competing for the SEC title any time soon (and are not yet even reliably beating the league’s middle-and-lower-middle-class tier of teams, which you can read about in my column from earlier this week, "The Cost of Caring."

And if the coach’s overall record is something like 19-29 four years from now, it may not matter where he wants to be.

But right now, in November of his first season at the helm in Columbia, this still feels exactly like what it felt like when Beamer was introduced as South Carolina head coach at the close of the 2020 football season.

It feels like a good fit for both parties.

It feels like a coach finding the right place, and a fan base finding the right leader.

It feels like everyone’s home.

South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley certainly feels at home in Columbia. She signed a historic seven-year, $22 million contract last month that will keep her on as the Gamecock head coach for years to come (USC signs Staley to contract extension).

As a fan, this is the dream scenario that you’re always hoping for: Your school grabs a young and energetic coach on the come-up who steadily builds a program, gradually develops into a legend and then sticks around for decades loading up the trophy case.

You want Dean Smith at North Carolina, Kryzezewski at Duke, Osborne at Nebraska.

As I’ve written many times, the goal is to find a coach who will someday become a statue on your campus.

Staley has been Statue Worthy for years now, and she remains so after her No. 1-ranked Gamecocks punished rival Clemson 76-45 at home Wednesday night in front of 13,363 fans (the most to see a women’s basketball game this season) USC tames Clemson. For my money, her ability to inspire passion, and to build and maintain an intense, bloodthirsty fan base is unrivaled in the school’s long athletic history. I’ve never seen a South Carolina coach simply invent a rabid, fervent fan base from scratch in the way Staley has. Quite simply, women’s basketball was not merely ignored by most fans before she arrived – it essentially existed in name only.

Now this team fills up the arena all season long, and fans charter buses to make road trips. Opponents don’t want to play in Columbia. It’s as potent a homecourt (or field) advantage as there is anywhere in college sports.

That’s what Dawn did.

That’s what we’re hoping Shane does.

Because when this home is hopping and bouncing and buzzing, there really is no place like it.

Tell me what you thought about Coach Beamer’s statement and how you’re enjoying the top-ranked women’s basketball team by writing me at scottdavis@gamecockcentral.com.