NASHVILLE — Donning a navy suit with subtle red plaid and a white dress shirt without a tie, Shane Beamer’s morning is already off and running by the time he reaches South Carolina’s holding room on the third floor at the Grand Hyatt hotel in downtown Nashville. Before he hopped on the 7 a.m. chartered flight from Columbia to Nashville, Beamer squeezed in a Peloton ride and wolfed down a couple granola bars along with his usual 2 cups of coffee.

It’s his third SEC Media Days as the Gamecocks’ head coach, so he knows the routine. Nearly 5 hours of media obligations won’t faze Beamer. That aspect of the job comes naturally. When his dad, Frank Beamer, was the head coach at Murray State, young Shane would tag along for Sunday morning drives to the TV station in Paducah, Kentucky, where they’d tape his weekly show. It sparked his interest in media.

A few decades later, Beamer’s media presence has a different feel. It’s not one that all Power 5 coaches embrace.

Ahead of SEC Media Days in 2022, South Carolina dropped a 24-second hype video wherein Beamer did his best Soulja Boy imitation in the TikTok mic challenge. A sunglasses-rocking Beamer went viral lip syncing to “Turn My Swag On.” South Carolina Director of Creative Media Justin King spearheaded that, along with all the other Gamecocks’ viral videos. There was the recreation of the “Full House” intro, and King and Co. also spoofed a cold open from “The Office” that made the internet rounds.

It’s simple — King develops an idea and Beamer shows up where and when he needs to be. “He’s the best boss I’ve ever had,” King says, “and I’ve had some good ones.”

The unofficial start of Year 3 called for a different vibe than sunglasses and Soulja Boy. South Carolina showed it could have fun and win by virtue of earning its first AP Top 25 finish of the post-Steve Spurrier era. Taking another step is priority No. 1 in season No. 3. Naturally, for the 2023 pre-SEC Media Days video, King opted for a South Carolina take on “The Sopranos” opening credits.

The message? Time to handle business.

As Beamer gets situated in South Carolina’s holding room before the day in Nashville takes off, he turns to King. It’s been a little over an hour since the Sopranos-themed video hit social media.

“Anything from the video I need to be aware of?” Beamer asks.

“Nothing but positive,” King says.

Spend enough time around Beamer and one might use those 3 words to describe him. But there’s a line that separates infectious positivity and blind optimism. Nothing about Beamer’s first 2 years on the job suggests he has a blind spot when it comes to building a program. When he says that he believes the best days of South Carolina football are ahead, he does so with credentials. Beamer already made a habit out of defying the odds.

Seven of his 15 victories came as an underdog. Four times, he won as a double-digit underdog. The night before SEC Media Days, his kids pointed out a tweet from Brad Crawford that outlined how Beamer already has victories against 3 of 5 active coaches with a national title.

So far, the Beamer way is working, sunglasses and all.

“I get it. This is a high-pressure, high-demanding job. I get that if I don’t win football games, I won’t continue to come here,” Beamer says before going through the Media Days carwash. “But I’m gonna enjoy the heck out of this experience because I realize how blessed I am to be a part of this.”

By 9 a.m., Beamer checked off several things from his media to-do list. Another successful video drop? Yep. A couple of 1-on-1s with visiting reporters? Done. About 20 minutes of answering questions with local media outside the South Carolina holding room? Finished.

After Beamer closes that portion of his media availability, he escapes for a minute to use the restroom and finally put on his red and blue patterned tie. Now, the day can really begin. Beamer directs his attention to the media member who’ll be shadowing him throughout his morning in Nashville.

“Alright, here we go. Ready, Connor?”

****

“Governor … ”

Marty Smith greeted Beamer with a hug after he stepped onto the Media Days set of the SEC Network TV show “Marty and McGee.” Separated by less than a year in age, Smith and Beamer were raised on Virginia Tech football, where Frank Beamer won a program-record 238 games. Smith would cheer Beamer’s dad from the cheap seats of Lane Stadium. An 11-year-old Shane was on the sidelines, carrying the cord for his dad’s headset, which was a skill he practiced in the family’s garage.

This past November, Smith hosted “SEC Nation” outside of Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia. On chilly, gray Saturday, Smith closed the pregame show by trying to pump up the Gamecock faithful. On the heels of a 38-6 loss at Florida, South Carolina was a 3-touchdown home underdog later that night against No. 5 Tennessee. Even the ever-energetic Smith could only do so much to excite the crowd.

By night’s end, though? Columbia was the center of the college football world.

A 63-38 beatdown of the Playoff-hopeful Vols saw Spencer Rattler toss a school-record 6 touchdown passes. Rattler, who had 8 touchdown passes in the 10 previous games following his well-documented transfer from Oklahoma, said afterward that “this game and the next one could change the narrative of this program forever.”

Rattler was right. A week later, South Carolina handed Clemson its first home loss since 2016. Beamer took down consecutive top-10 opponents, which was a feat that even his Hall of Fame dad never accomplished in 3 decades at Virginia Tech.

At every single media pitstop during his day in Nashville, Beamer was asked about those 2 victories. He shared a story from earlier in the week when he was golfing and someone tossed him a golf ball. It read: “63-38, Go Gamecocks.” Ryan McGee asked Beamer about what the Tennessee and Clemson wins did for the momentum. “Definitely made those Gamecock Club events a lot better,” he said. When Beamer joined the Sirius XM crew, Rick Neuheisel asked him if he could quantify those 2 victories.

“No,” Beamer said, acknowledging the question. “It’s that big.”

It was that big for Beamer’s bank account, too. At the end of the 2022 season, he earned a nearly $4 million annual raise to an average of $6.5 million.

Beamer proved that he could keep a team engaged. All 4 of those aforementioned victories as a double-digit underdog came in November or later, weeks after contending for a division title was off the table. Call it a combination of his energy and “Beamer Ball,” which contrary to popular belief, isn’t just a special teams mantra. It’s the belief that no matter who is on the field, you have the ability to score points.

In addition to just 1 missed field goal and some All-American punting from Kai Kroger, South Carolina’s 9 non-offensive touchdowns and SEC-best 47 turnovers forced helped Beamer work through some clear weaknesses the first 2 years. Pre-Rattler, they went through 4 starting quarterbacks in 2021. They have yet to rank in the top 90 in rushing or defending the run under Beamer. Generating a better pass rush is high on that 2023 priority list. Nobody in the SEC turned the ball over more than South Carolina each of the past 2 seasons. “Offensive consistency” was referenced throughout Beamer’s media carwash.

Optimism aside — Sirius XM host Chris Childers called him “Ted Lasso” — Beamer is well aware of the questions facing his team.

There are 38 new players on the team. Leading rusher MarShawn Lloyd left for USC and Beamer opted not to make big splash for a running back in the transfer portal because he didn’t believe they were worth what they sought in NIL opportunities. Converted quarterback/receiver Dakereon Joyner returned for Year 6 to try his hand at tailback, where South Carolina has just 4 scholarship players. “Depth is a concern,” Beamer said. He cited the time his dad lost 4 scholarship running backs during a season at Virginia Tech and how that’ll be in the back of his mind entering 2023.

An uphill climb is nothing new for Beamer. And that’s not a reference to the 46-year-old’s daily 5:30 a.m. workouts with South Carolina strength coach Luke Day — King believes that discipline actually made Beamer look younger — which include sandbags and “everything but the heavy weights” that Gamecocks players use (Beamer recently got into “rucking” which basically consists of working out with a weighted backpack).

That work ethic was established well before he took advantage of South Carolina’s $50 million football facility. It fueled his first-team Group AA all-state honor as a prolific high school receiver in Virginia who played all 3 ways. “I used to hear that the only reason I was playing baseball and football at Blacksburg High School was because my dad was the coach at Tech,” he said.

One might assume that Beamer was chomping at the bit to follow in his dad’s footsteps. After his playing career came to an end — he was a walk-on long-snapper on the 1999 Virginia Tech squad that played for a national championship — Beamer actually tried his hand at substitute teaching for a semester.

“That’s when I realized I didn’t wanna be a teacher,” he said. “God bless you, teachers.”

****

Coaching was always Beamer’s calling. Despite the inevitable time spent working on his dad’s staff — he waited until Year 12 in his career to do that and never asked him to make a phone call or send a single recommendation letter — you’d be hard pressed to find a more accomplished group of coaches to work for. In addition to the 5 years spent with his dad at Virginia Tech, Beamer worked for George O’Leary, Phillip Fulmer, Sylvester Croom, Steve Spurrier, Kirby Smart and Lincoln Riley. And he did so coaching running backs, tight ends, cornerbacks, outside linebackers, strong safeties and special teams.

Yet when Beamer was hired for his first head coaching gig at South Carolina, his lack of offensive/defensive coordinator experience was questioned. Even at his third SEC Media Days, he fielded a question about the challenge of overcoming that as a coach.

“Certainly respect the question,” Beamer began to say in front of hundreds of SEC media members. “But also people talk about, well, you have not been a coordinator. Being a special teams coordinator is being a coordinator. Everybody talks about, well, that guy has not been an offensive coordinator or defensive coordinator. Being a special teams coordinator prepared me better to be a head football coach than if I had been on the offensive side of the ball or the defensive side of the ball.

“And I say that because when you’re the special teams coordinator, you’re the only coach other than the coach that stands in front of the whole team and talks to the team because coaching special teams embodies — takes the entire roster.”

It’s true that Beamer couldn’t just step in and take on offensive play-calling duties when Marcus Satterfield left for Nebraska. It’s also worth noting that even offensive-minded SEC head coaches like Lane Kiffin, Josh Heupel, Jimbo Fisher, Eli Drinkwitz and Hugh Freeze are no longer considered primary play-callers for their respective teams.

Throughout Beamer’s day in Nashville, he’s asked about the marriage between new offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains and Rattler. It was Loggains who emerged amidst a national search after Beamer had phone calls with Gamecock legends Connor Shaw and Alshon Jeffery, both of whom spent time with Loggains during his 3 years with the Chicago Bears, where he was the quarterbacks coach during Jay Cutler’s best statistical season. Loggains has never been a play-caller at the college level, and if the hire doesn’t work out, surely that won’t be lost on the naysayers.

A year earlier at SEC Media Days, Beamer defended his decision to bring Rattler to South Carolina from Oklahoma. Rattler didn’t physically accompany the team to SEC Media Days that first year — Beamer actually joked in 2022 that Rattler would return for another year and represent the Gamecocks in 2023 — but he was at the forefront of the conversation.

With Rattler at SEC Media Days this time, Beamer talked at length about his starting quarterback dating back to their 2 years together at Oklahoma and how the 2017 Netflix show “QB1: Beyond The Lights” wasn’t an accurate portrayal of who Rattler is. “There’s a lazy narrative on Spencer Rattler because of a Netflix show. He showed nothing but class at Oklahoma,” Beamer told local media. He referenced being sold on him during the 4-overtime victory against Texas that helped the Sooners avoid a 1-3 start in 2020, which was really the beginning of Rattler’s pre-2021 Heisman campaign. There was skepticism about whether Rattler could bounce back from his 2021 benching and turn a new leaf at South Carolina. “The guy didn’t forget how to play football,” Beamer said.

When Rattler announced his return to South Carolina following his banner finish to 2022, he was voted a captain by his teammates. It’s why he was in Nashville, unlike the year before when Beamer said Rattler himself would’ve pushed back on getting to represent the team at SEC Media Days. He’s since spoken to local media on countless occasions.

In the midst of the hectic day, wherein player representatives have a schedule that’s separate from the head coach, Beamer and Rattler crossed paths before doing a pre-taped TV promotional shoot.

“You survivin’?” Beamer called over to Rattler.

“Yeah,” Rattler said with a smile. “They’re trying to roast you in there.”

Rattler warned Beamer that there was a picture from his college days that the TV crew showed the South Carolina players. When it was Beamer’s turn to see the old picture of his baby-faced self, he just smiled and shook his head.

Nothing but positive.

****

As Beamer steps down from the main podium at SEC Media Days, he walks with the shadowing reporter and asks a question of his own.

“How’d I do, Connor?”

Little did Beamer know that he didn’t follow through on the advice of his 3 kids, Hunter, Sutton and Olivia, who told him “don’t be that guy again” after he delivered the second-most words in his opening statement at SEC Media Days in 2022.

New year, same guy, same ranking.

Smart was the only SEC coach who had more words in his opening statement than Beamer. Smart is also one of the active coaches with a national title whom Beamer hasn’t defeated … which was another thing Beamer’s kids reminded him of before SEC Media Days.

He accepted that part of the job would be spending time away from his wife Emily and their kids on long recruiting trips. When he’s getting ready to leave, he’ll tell them, “y’all like going to bowl games, right?” It’s become second nature to see Beamer conducting a postgame interview after a South Carolina victory and he’s holding 1 his kids. Frank and Cheryl Beamer are frequently present for their son’s postgame celebrations. When Shane first started coaching, he had a call from his mom within 5 minutes after every game.

Before arriving in Nashville, Shane gave his mom the minute-by-minute schedule of his media obligations. He knew she was probably listening to as many of her son’s live interviews as she could. During his stop with Sirius XM, Childers joked that “we love Mom a little more than you.”

“As you should,” Beamer said.

The final stretch of the day sends Beamer right through the heart of radio row for a few more appearances. Before exchanging some pleasantries with Heupel as he passes by, Beamer looks to his left and spots a TV production worker with his head buried in his arms. “Tell him that whatever it is, it’s gonna be alright,” he says to the stranger.

Eventually, Beamer makes his way back to the South Carolina holding room on the third floor, where burgers and fries await before the 80-minute plane ride back to Columbia. In between bites of lunch, Beamer and South Carolina players discuss the toughest questions they got asked all day.

South Carolina sports information director Steve Fink tries to coordinate with the pilot if they can leave because of an incoming storm. Once they get the all-clear, Beamer and the South Carolina contingent make their way down the escalators of the Grand Hyatt. In the main lobby of the hotel, they sign autographs and take a few selfies with the Gamecock faithful.

Soon, fall camp will begin and Year 3 expectations will set in for Beamer. The Tennessee and Clemson victories will be a distant memory. Odds have already been defied and whatever sort of bar that Beamer started with has been raised. A new mantra followed his program as it exited Nashville.

Time to handle business.