Shane Beamer lauds Dawn Staley: ‘There’s a lot of things that I’ve learned from her’

Shane Beamer and South Carolina football hosted about 20 prospective Gamecocks in January.

Checking out the facilities, asking about USC academics and discussing Beamer’s vision for the program were undoubtedly on every player’s to-do list. But so was, for nearly half the recruits in Columbia that day, meeting women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley.

“It was in the middle of her season,” Beamer recalled on Monday. “So we had to reach out to her like, ‘Would you have time to meet with eight football players?’ And I think she had a game the next day. And she was like, ‘Yeah, sure, whatever.’”

Staley has been involved in other recruiting weekends this past year, Beamer said, and has been to his house to help with a recruit in the past. South Carolina is one of few Power 4 schools with a coach of such celebrity and success as Staley. And it might be the only Power 4 school where the women’s basketball coach could entice a football player to commit.

As Staley juggles her own responsibilities building and maintaining one of women’s basketball’s most iconic brands, Beamer appreciates her willingness to help fellow USC coaches.

“Coaching is coaching,” Beamer said. “Coaching is teaching. And it may be different sports, but there’s a lot of similarities. There’s a lot of things that I’ve learned from her.”

The fourth-year head coach fielded a question about Staley at SEC Media Days in Dallas on Monday afternoon. How does she affect recruiting (after an undefeated season in 2023-24 and two No. 1 recruiting classes in the last five years), and what’s the best advice they’ve given each other?

Beamer raised his eyebrows.

“Best advice I give her? Or she’s given me?” he asked with a sort of surprised grin.

“Both,” the reporter replied.

“I don’t know if I’m giving her much advice,” Beamer said, his smile widening as he shook his head. “She’s a great friend. Literally just traded some texts with her a couple days ago about some stuff. Dawn’s fantastic.

“... I’ve been part of some teams or some schools where it’s very territorial. The football coach is all about the football team, and the tennis coach is all about tennis. But not at our place. It’s a great environment where we all support each other, and Dawn’s right at the top of that.”