Shane Beamer knows that he’s got some big expectations on his shoulders as the South Carolina Gamecocks head into the 2026 college football season.
Beamer is about to kick off his sixth year as the head coach of the Gamecocks, and he boasts a 33-30 overall record.
The issue is, eight of those losses came in 2025 when the Gamecocks were considered a sneaky College Football Playoff team. Many felt they could compete in the SEC. Instead, Beamer’s Gamecocks went 4-8.
In fact, South Carolina’s halfway respectable 9-4 season in 2024 was sandwiched between a 5-7 2023 season and last year’s results.
The Gamecocks have played more bad football than good in Beamer’s last three seasons, which is why this 2026 season is starting to feel a bit like a “must-win” for Beamer. He doesn’t need to win the whole thing and become the next Curt Cignetti, but there is a feeling that the Gamecocks need to make noise in 2026 for Beamer to keep his job.
Surprisingly enough, the head coach was honest on Tuesday while speaking on “The Paul Finebaum Show” that he does pay attention to the criticisms.
“I think it’s my job, honestly,” Beamer said (h/t On3). “Am I on my phone all day long? No. Am I typing my name on a Tuesday morning to see what people are saying about me? No. But I’m also not naive. We only have our players four hours a day during the season. We practice in the mornings at South Carolina. So our players are done and out of the building every day by noon. So there’s 20 other hours throughout the day where they’re going to class, and they’re on their phones, and they’re listening to people.”
