Georgia Football: Smart Hires Beamer For Special Teams
Kirby Smart continues to solidify his coaching staff, adding a little Beamer Ball to the Georgia football team.
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Who has been the best special teams coach over the past 20 years? Conventional wisdom points directly to Frank Beamer. The now-former head ball coach at Virginia Tech coined the ‘Beamer Ball’ nickname because of his team’s ability to block punts, return kicks for touchdowns and win games on special teams. With his retirement, another Beamer looks to continue the family coaching legacy.
According to Marc Weiszer from the Athens Banner-Herald, Smart hired Shane Beamer to coach the Georgia special teams and tight ends. Since the beginning of his coaching career in 2000, Beamer and Smart developed a friendship recruiting for their respective schools that now culminates in Athens.
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Beamer, 38, is the son of Frank Beamer. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Georgia Tech following his collegiate football career at Virginia Tech where he played wide receiver and long snapper. He then moved to the SEC where he worked for Tennessee (2001-2003), Mississippi State (2004-2006) and South Carolina (2007-2010). In Columbia, he served as the special teams coordinator among other roles.
In 2011, he returned to his alma mater to work under his father where he coached the running backs for the Hokies.
The move for Georgia to hire a special teams coach comes as more significant news than for other teams. Mark Richt was often criticized for not hiring a special teams coordinator. Without one, any and ever slip-up made by the special teams unit was ostracized by the fan base. Their comments sneered directly at Richt.
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Beamer not only has experience in coaching special teams in the past, but he comes from a school that prides themselves in that aspect of the game. He also learned from one of the masters of that part of the game.