Josh Heupel and Shane Beamer both had impressive first seasons at Tennessee and South Carolina, respectively.

Beamer surprised almost everyone by leading the Gamecocks to a 6-6 regular-season record and improving to 7-6 with a Duke’s Mayo Bowl victory.

Meanwhile, Heupel’s Vols went 7-5 in the regular-season before falling to 7-6 with a Music City Bowl loss.

On Monday night, they were named co-winners of the Steve Spurrier First-Year Coach Award:

https://twitter.com/Vol_Football/status/1483242739475128321

Spurrier announced the winners of the award virtually, praising the work Beamer and Heupel did to exceed expectations:

“Well there are two coaches this year because they are both very deserving,” Spurrier said, via a press release. “Preseason, their teams were picked next to Vandy at the bottom of the league, 12 and 13, but instead of gloom and doom they took their players and improved every game and both finished 7-6.”

Brian Kelly and Billy Napier are the new coaches in the SEC heading into the 2022 season. Will either of them win this award this time next year?