South Carolina coach Shane Beamer has his first honor as leader of the Gamecocks, earning the Steve Spurrier First Year Coach of the Year Award from the Football Writers of America Association and sharing the distinction with Tennessee’s Josh Heupel.
Here are the words of former Gamecock legend Spurrier himself, describing how Beamer met the grade:
“Well there are two coaches this year because they are both very deserving. Preseason, their teams were picked next to Vandy at the bottom of the league, 12 and 13, but instead of gloom and doom they took their players and improved every game and both finished 7-6.