Shane Beamer accuses Lane Kiffin of breaking ‘unspoken rule’ among coaches
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One minute, South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer had Sterling Lucas as his defensive ends/outside linebackers coach. The next, he didn’t. Before Beamer could blink, Lucas was at LSU. And Beamer is not happy about how that process transpired.
During his Friday morning introduction of Deion Barnes as his next DE/OLBs coach, Beamer recapped how Lucas — referred to only as “previous coach” — wound up working for new LSU coach Lane Kiffin.
“Certainly happened fast, as you guys know,” Beamer began. “Got a call Thursday night after 11:00 p.m. from the previous coach that was here, telling me that he had been offered a job at another school. And by 9:00 a.m. the next morning, he was gone.”
“Little bit unusual. Usually you get a phone call from the head coach of the school kind of giving you a heads up that he’s interested in maybe talking to one of your coaches,” Beamer continued. “That didn’t happen. Which, again, there’s no rule that that has to happen. But it’s kind of an unspoken rule. Didn’t hear anything from the other school. Didn’t hear anything from the previous coach until he called to tell me that he had been offered the job.”
While he’s still agitated about how the situation unfolded, Beamer is excited to have Barnes on staff. He spoke glowingly about Barnes’ experience as a player and coach. Together, they hope to have South Carolina competing for a College Football Playoff berth again in 2026.
