The Big Lead

Shane Beamer's new contract with South Carolina deserved after Gamecocks' incredible season

By Sam Westmoreland

Nov 16, 2024; Columbia, South Carolina, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer celebrates beating the Missouri Tigers at Williams-Brice Stadium. He is holding the Mayors Cup, given to the winner of the South Carolina-Missouri game. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Blake-Imagn Images
Nov 16, 2024; Columbia, South Carolina, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer celebrates beating the Missouri Tigers at Williams-Brice Stadium. He is holding the Mayors Cup, given to the winner of the South Carolina-Missouri game. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Blake-Imagn Images / Jeff Blake-Imagn Images
facebooktwitter

Shane Beamer was rewarded for South Carolina's incredible season with a fat new contract on Friday.

According to ESPN's Mark Schlabach, Beamer's new deal runs through 2030, and pays him an average of $8.15 million per year, with $100,000 raises every year. Previously, the coach was making $6.6 million per season. It also has a $5 million buyout clause that drops by $1 million every season moving forward.

RELATED: Bill Belichick's North Carolina contract even rewards him for Pop-Tarts Bowl

Given the season the Gamecocks had, this new contract is no surprise at all. In a year where South Carolina faced a positively brutal schedule, and were projected to finish 13th in the 16-team league, Beamer and his team delivered a season that had fans delirious with excitement.

A rocky 3-3 start to the season was belied by a six-game win streak down the stretch, which featured wins over then-ranked Texas A&M, Oklahoma on the road, number 19 Missouri, and, most impressively, a 17-14 win over Clemson in Death Valley.

The Gamecocks emerged as a punchy, dynamic, big-play outfit, as quarterback Lanorris Sellers blossomed into a stellar dual-threat player down the stretch, singlehandedly leading this team past Clemson in the season finale with a pair of incredible touchdown runs.

South Carolina was so good this season, and such a pleasant surprise that they were getting outside playoff calls after that season-ending win over Clemson. Did they get in? No, but that's not the point.

Historically, the Gamecocks have not had much luck in football. Outside of a three-year Steve Spurrier run when they won 11 games in consecutive seasons, they'd won 10 games just once in their history. Outside of that Spurrier run, this was just the fifth time they'd won nine games in a season, and just the third time in that stretch that they got to nine wins without a bowl victory.

So for a team like this to be getting legitimate push as a playoff contender is a massive accomplishment for Beamer and his team. Even more impressive, with Sellers returning along with a good chunk of the offense, this team has a legitimate chance to be good again next year, which is incredibly rare for the Gamecocks historically.

In other words, you'd be hard pressed to find a coach as deserving of a new contract as Beamer.

MORE TOP STORIES from The Big Lead
NFL: Conference championship: previews…
NFL: …and TV announcers
MLB: Flaherty frustrated by teams unwilling to spend
CFB: 2025 pre-season rankings released

Home/CFB