It took just 3 weeks into the 2025 season for it to happen.
That is, the Virginia Tech job opened up officially, and immediately, speculation began about whether Shane Beamer would return to the program that his dad, Frank Beamer, put on the map. The irony was that Beamer played a part in Brent Pry’s firing by leading South Carolina to a 24-11 victory against Virginia Tech in Atlanta to kick off the season. Fittingly, it was a game wherein “Beamer Ball” was on display with a return touchdown.
It’d be stunning if Beamer’s name wasn’t at the top of Virginia Tech’s list. What Beamer has done in 5 years at South Carolina has been impressive, and in a place that built his dad a statue, there’s no denying that the Beamer name still carries plenty of weight in Blacksburg.
But a decade after his dad’s retirement, I can’t see any scenario in which Beamer goes back to Virginia Tech in 2025. That’s based on a few things.
In every interaction that I’ve ever had with Beamer both on or off the record — that included several 1-on-1 podcast interviews and spending his entire 2023 SEC Media Days experience with him in Nashville — I’ve never gotten any indication that he longed for that opportunity. What did come up repeatedly was all of the non-Beamer coaches that he worked for instead of exclusively working with his dad on the Virginia Tech staff. He instead opted to work on the staffs of George O’Leary, Phillip Fulmer, Sylvester Croom, Steve Spurrier, Kirby Smart and Lincoln Riley because he wanted to gather as much experience as possible from respected coaches before he became a head coach. Beamer waited until Year 12 in his coaching career to work on his dad’s staff, and he never asked his dad for a single recommendation later or call to help him get a job.
Sure, he was a long-snapper on his dad’s 1999 Virginia Tech team that played for a national title and he did spend those 5 years on his dad’s staff. But that time in Blacksburg is just a fraction of his football experience.
Why do I bring that up?
As much as Beamer respects and appreciates the legacy his dad built at Virginia Tech, he’s always been set on making his own path
Shoot, the guy was so set on following his own path that he tried his hand as a substitute teacher for 6 months before he got into the family business of coaching.
Things have changed a bit in the quarter century since making that somewhat inevitable move. Beamer has a program that’s his. That matters. Also significant, he got a raise at the ends of 2 out of the last 3 seasons. That included after the 2024 season — which began with South Carolina getting a new athletic director — when he recorded the program’s best year of the post-Spurrier era. That bumped him up to a deal that started at $8.15 million with $100,000 annual increases through the 2030 season.
A salary that’ll approach $9 million isn’t typically the type of contract that gets topped, especially by a program that fired a first-time head coach who wasn’t even making $5 million annually yet. Virginia Tech poaching an established Power Conference coach would be completely different than USC getting Riley or LSU getting Brian Kelly.
Let’s also not forget that coaches don’t leave the SEC for other jobs. The last SEC head coach to leave the conference (willingly) for another job was … James Franklin. That was him leaving Vanderbilt for Penn State at the end of the 2013 season. That’s the only example of such an occurrence in the last 15 years (Lane Kiffin left Tennessee for USC after the 2009 season).
In the SEC, you either get a raise or you get fired. There’s no in between.
It’s also worth noting that in cases like Riley and Kelly, they got 10-year megadeals. Is Virginia Tech shelling out something like that? Because that’s about the only way it would make sense from a financial standpoint for Beamer.
Yes, that’s relevant even when there’s a family connection like Beamer has to Virginia Tech. He’s not taking a pay cut for another job, and even if he did have interest in Virginia Tech, why now? He’s recruiting top-20 classes and retaining underclassmen superstars like LaNorris Sellers and Dylan Stewart in Columbia. He just showed that he can handle the rigors of an SEC gauntlet, so leaving for a job in the 2-bid ACC doesn’t make sense, either.
This would be a different story if Beamer was falling out of favor in Year 8 or Year 9. Vanderbilt loss aside, he just had South Carolina in the top 10 for the first time in 11 years. This isn’t a coach on the decline who needs a change of scenery. So unless Beamer suddenly falls out of favor with the South Carolina administration or things collapse in a hurry, let’s shift the Virginia Tech speculation to a few other coaches.
These 5 coaches with SEC ties would all be more realistic:
Jimbo Fisher, former Texas A&M coach and current ACC Network analyst
For what it’s worth, I don’t believe that the West Virginia native will get another job as an FBS head coach. He’s nearly 2 years removed from getting a $76 million after 6 years at Texas A&M. Fisher spent 2024 away from coaching doing regular appearances on SiriusXM with his former players, Jacob Hester and EJ Manuel. He then transitioned into a role with ACC Network for 2025, which means he’ll be in the regional spotlight. You can bet that he’ll spend no shortage of time breaking down ACC teams in that role. It’s about as ideal of a spot as an “idle” coach can be in for that kind of vacancy.
Lord knows Fisher doesn’t need some splashy contract, either. The question is whether Virginia Tech would be interested in bringing in someone like Fisher, who fell out of favor in College Station because of his stubborn offensive ways. A decade ago, Fisher was the most coveted coach in the ACC. Has the game passed him by? And even if he wants to get back into coaching, could Virginia Tech perhaps be a bit scared off from a coach who got such a rich buyout after the way things played out for Gus Malzahn at UCF? All are fair questions to ask. So, too, is connecting a national championship-winning coach to succeed someone who struggled to make the jump from assistant to head coach.
All indications are that Fisher wants to get back into coaching, but it’ll take the right fit. There might not be a better fit for Fisher than Virginia Tech. The question is if that’s a 2-way street.
Collin Klein, Texas A&M OC
Klein is a rising star in the coaching world. He’ll turn 36 years old on Friday, which would certainly put him on the short list of youngest Power Conference head coaches (Kenny Dillingham is the only current Power Conference coach who is younger than Klein). He’s also in his 4th season as an offensive play-caller at the Power Conference level. He quickly established himself as an elite molder of mobile quarterbacks in his up-tempo scheme, which include guys like Will Howard, Avery Johnson and currently, Marcel Reed.
Klein left his alma mater after 7 seasons to join forces with Mike Elko and have full autonomy running A&M’s offense. It’s early, but Klein just led a 41-point effort in the Aggies’ first win vs. an AP Top 25 team in a true road game since 2014. A&M also has the nation’s leading receiver in Mario Craver, and NC State transfer KC Concepcion is already playing at an All-SEC level for an offense that’s averaging 42 points per game. Klein runs an offense that skill-players want to be a part of. There’s no denying that. There’s also no denying that he’s soon going to get an opportunity to run his own program, it’s just a matter of when that’ll be.
Leading A&M to its first Playoff berth could expedite that process.
Ben Arbuckle, Oklahoma OC
Speaking of young, up-and-coming offensive minds in the SEC, Arbuckle turned 30 years old on the exact day of this writing (Sept. 15). He’s no longer a 20-something, up-and-coming offensive coordinator, but he’d still be the youngest Power Conference coach by 5 years. Arbuckle would be considered a baby in the coaching community. But age shouldn’t ignore the fact that he was Cam Ward’s offensive coordinator at Washington State, and he’s in Year 2 with John Mateer, AKA the guy with the No. 2 odds to win the Heisman Trophy heading into a monumental Week 4 showdown against his predecessor, Jackson Arnold.
Ward and Mateer were different stylistically, but both were similar in that they were no-name recruits from Texas who needed the right offensive mind to tap into their unique skill sets. As Mateer’s stock rises, so will Arbuckle’s. The Texas native might not have regional ties to that part of the country, but his offense is showing that it can translate anywhere in the sport. That would include Blacksburg, where fans haven’t been treated to a top-40 scoring offense since 2016.
Glenn Schumann, Georgia DC
At this point, Schumann is being included on every one of these lists. Like Klein and Arbuckle, we’re talking about a young, first-time head coach. That could hurt him after Pry’s struggles as a first-time, defensive-minded head coach who went 1-13 in games decided by 10 points or less. But once upon a time, a 30-something Georgia defensive coordinator was facing that same hurdle before getting his first FBS head coaching job. Things worked out pretty well for Dan Lanning. If you think you’re getting the next Lanning in Schumann, he has to be considered. The former Alabama and Georgia assistant has been groomed to follow in Lanning’s footsteps as a Day 1 member of Kirby Smart‘s staff.
Would Schumann be as coveted for this job as someone like Tulane coach Jon Sumrall? Probably not given the lack of previous head coaching experience. But if Georgia wins another SEC title and this defense looks more consistent than last year’s unit, Schumann’s name will continue to circulate.
Steve Gregory, Vanderbilt DC
I shouldn’t have to convince Virginia Tech fans of Gregory’s greatness. His defense dominated the Hokies in the second half of that game. In fact, his unit has yet to allow a touchdown in the second half this season. Gregory took over as Vandy’s DC in 2025 because Clark Lea wanted to step back into the CEO role as Vandy’s head coach, which meant promoting Gregory from his defensive assistant role. It’s extremely early into his tenure in that role, but the returns have been remarkable. Vandy allowed an average of 10 points in its first 3 games, and it allowed 4.2 yards per play with 7 turnovers forced.
The 42-year-old New York native played at Syracuse, as well as 8 years in the NFL after he was an undrafted free agent. He played with and coached for Brian Flores in the NFL, which is evident with the way that his units bring pressure. Again, there’s a chance that Virginia Tech would opt to stay away from hiring another defensive-minded, first-time head coach, but if the Hokies are looking for an on-the-rise assistant, perhaps they should look no further than to the guy who helped push Pry out the door.
And a wild card … Butch Jones, former Tennessee coach/current Arkansas State coach
I wrote about this ahead of Week 2, so apologies for repeating myself. Virginia Tech athletic director Whit Babcock was the AD at Cincinnati who was there when Butch Jones was. Babcock gave Jones an extension after Year 2 on the job, but he was unable to keep him at a Group of 5 job when Tennessee came calling. Now at Arkansas State, Jones has quietly improved in each of his first 4 seasons on the job. If that continues in Year 5 — something that doesn’t seem crazy after a 1-score loss to top-15 Iowa State — we’re talking about hiring someone who led 4 different FBS programs to 9-win seasons.
Jones might have proven to be a bad cultural fit at Tennessee, but reuniting with Babcock, who reportedly was interested in hiring him to succeed Frank Beamer a decade ago, would make more sense than the average SEC fan might realize. Dare I say, we might not have heard the last from Jones at the Power Conference level.
Connor O’Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He’s a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
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