![]() ![]() Virginia Tech beat Boston College 26-10 on Saturday.īeamer led the Hokies to seven conference titles, four in the Atlantic Coast Conference and three in the Big East. The Hokies won at least 10 games each season from 2004-11, but have lost at least five games each year since. “I was going to wait until the end of the season to make this announcement, but I’ve always believed in being open and honest with my players and coaches,” Beamer said. The Hokies have slipped in recent seasons and are 4-5 this year after beating Boston College on Saturday.īeamer said he informed athletic director Whit Babcock and university president Timothy Sands on Sunday that he was stepping down. While Beamer gave no public indication he was planning to step down midseason, the news comes as no surprise. He is 235-120-2 since taking over at Virginia Tech in 1987. The 69-year-old is the winningest active major college football coach with 277 victories. “Because of my love and passion for this great university, this program and our tremendous fans, I have decided after 29 years that it’s time.” “I have always said that I want what is best for Virginia Tech,” Beamer said in a statement. But you can bet no specialists around Columbia will be filling divots on the fields behind the Long Family Football Operations Center.Frank Beamer has decided this will be his last season as Virginia Tech’s coach, ending a 29-year run in Blacksburg, Va., that made Beamer Ball synonymous with winning.īeamer announced Sunday he would retire after this season. The 2022 campaign was another step in its steadily climbing trajectory under Beamer. Lembo, an avid 1970s and ’80s rock fan and history buff, quipped during his first press conference of the spring that the 2021 season reminded him of Paul Simon’s record, “ Negotiations and Love Songs,” as the Gamecocks staff was forced to bring back a sense of love and belief inside the program. South Carolina rewarded Lembo’s work over the past few seasons with a new contract in December that pays him $725,000 annually in base salary, making him the highest-paid special teams coach in the country who doesn’t handle a second position group. As is Lembo, who’s had his name floated around for vacant head coaching jobs here and there. The Gamecocks return Jeter and Kroeger, who also handles the holding duties. Heading into 2023, the focus on special teams remains constant in Columbia. It’s become kind of part of our brand for this coaching staff at this university at this point in time.” “I say this with all humility, but I feel like special teams has become a big part of our culture,” Lembo said. That’s not to mention South Carolina finished with the most blocked kicks in the country (6) at the end of the 2022 regular season, tied with Gator Bowl opponent Notre Dame. Jeter also notched field goals of 53 and 51 yards in the season-opening win over Georgia State. He became just the second kicker in school history to connect on every single one of his kicks (minimum of 10) in a season in 2022, cashing all 11 of his field goals and 42 of 44 extra points. Jeter, who out-dueled Alex Hererra to replace White this past fall, quickly put his own admirable spin on the mantle vacated by his predecessor. White concluded his career in 2021 as the program’s all-time leader in points, connecting on 16 of 17 field goals and all 30 of his extra-point attempts. Kickers Parker White and Mitch Jeter, too, have offered their own levels of dynamism since Lembo and Beamer landed at South Carolina. The Chicago-area native dazzled with his powerful leg ( 44.2-yards per punt in his career) and an ability to extend drives (completing all four pass attempts for 107 yards and two touchdowns on fake kicks). ![]() Punter Kai Kroeger finished as a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award in 2022, though his head coach made clear he felt Kroeger should’ve won the honor outright. That hire has paid off tenfold, on paper, as South Carolina’s special teams units have been among the nation’s best in Beamer’s two years as head coach. And I told him I wouldn’t do it unless I felt like I had the ability or the opportunity to hire the very best special teams coach in the country. Why do you need a special teams coordinator?’ “ Beamer recounted. “Coach Tanner asked me, ‘You’re a special teams guy. It’s also why special teams has become so ingrained in the fabric of Beamer’s fledgling program. But hiring Lembo, according to Beamer, was one of the first orders of business when chatting with South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner and senior deputy athletic director Chance Miller about the head coaching job in December 2020. South Carolina is one of just four teams in the Southeastern Conference with a full-time special teams coordinator who doesn’t handle other positional responsibilities. ![]()
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