BLACKSBURG, Va. – From the backyard to the big stage, Frank Beamer saw the signs early that his son might follow him into football.
“One night I looked out from our deck and Shane was down at the playground with all his friends,” Beamer recalled. “He had a walkie talkie, directing plays, and all the kids were running around. It gave me the idea maybe he wants to be a football coach.”
That hunch proved true. After a playing career at Virginia Tech, Shane Beamer entered the coaching ranks — notebooks in hand and an eye for detail, traits his father credits to his mother.
“I said, you’ve grown up in this family all these years and you still want to be a football coach? Are you sure?” Frank joked. “But he was. And he was like his mom — very detailed and takes notes on everything.”
Frank Beamer knows what it takes to succeed. His own legacy includes multiple conference titles, a national championship appearance and the most wins in Virginia Tech history. Yet he says his son has already surpassed him in many ways.
“He’s definitely on his own path,” Frank said. “I tell people all the time, and I really mean it, he’s way past me. He’s been around a lot of good people, a lot of good programs, he’s learned and knows what he wants to do and how he wants to do it.”
That approach has fueled a culture shift at South Carolina, where Shane’s passion for the game and care for his players have led to big wins and bigger buy-in.
But Sunday brings a unique twist. For the first time, father and son will be linked to opposite sidelines as Virginia Tech battles South Carolina as part of the Aflac Kickoff at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m.
“It’s the one game in my life that I’m going to be a little bit happy and a little bit sad,” Frank admitted.
And though Frank may joke that Shane also inherited his father’s dance moves — “and that’s not a good thing,” he teased — there’s no mistaking the pride.
Because for Frank Beamer, watching Shane live out a childhood dream is worth more than any trophy.