Why Shane Beamer said he only considered Stan Drayton for South Carolina RB coach
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COLUMBIA — Twenty one years ago, Shane Beamer met two important people in Starkville, Mississippi.
His now wife Emily, and Stan Drayton.
Beamer, then a Mississippi State cornerbacks coach and recruiting coordinator, met Emily in the press box and worked with Drayton, who was the Bulldogs running backs coach.
Beamer will celebrate 20 years of marriage in June and is currently celebrating hiring Drayton as South Carolina football’s new running backs coach.
Drayton is one of three new offensive coaches hired on Dec. 11 and introduced in a press conference on Dec. 12. His new contract is for three years, worth $775,000 per year.
“Stan is what I’ve been looking for at the running back position since I got hired in December of 2020,” Beamer said with Drayton sitting to his right. “He is the total package. I’ve worked with him. I know the kind of person he is.”
Beamer fired Marquel Blackwell on Dec. 4 after two seasons at the position, as the run game dropped from fourth in the SEC to 15th from 2024 to 2025.
Drayton spent this season at Penn State and will finish with the Nittany Lions (6-6) when they face Clemson in the Pinstripe Bowl on Dec. 27 in Yankee Stadium.
Beamer fired Montario Hardesty after three seasons (2021-23) then hired Blackwell. The hiring process for Drayton was a little different.
“When I made the change at running back (coach) there was one running backs coach that I thought of, there was one running backs coach that I called, there was one running backs coach that I offered a job to and no one else,” Beamer said. “It was this guy right here because I know what he’s about.”
Sylvester Croom, the first African American head football coach in the SEC, was at MSU from 2004-08 and hired both Beamer (from Tennessee) and Drayton to his staff. It was Beamer’s first full-time coaching job but Drayton left the Green Bay Packers for the college position.
“I think coach Croom was probably looking for young coaches that he could hire cheap and Stan and I fit the bill on that,” Beamer joked. “We only spent one year together, but it was a powerful year for me to be able to learn to see his work ethic, what he’s about as a running back coach.”
When Drayton left to take the running back job at Florida in 2005, Beamer took Emily to Drayton and his wife Monique’s house to say goodbye, a move that Beamer joked was to impress his then girlfriend to show the life they could have if he continued coaching.
Drayton has over 30 years of experience coaching running backs, with the last decade spent with the Chicago Bears, Texas and Temple before Penn State.
“The decision was easy for me,” Drayton said. “There hasn’t been many opportunities in 33 years where I can work with or for someone that I can absolutely let my hair down and be me and know exactly what’s expected of me and know exactly what I can expect of that person. So it’s an honor to be here.”
Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at LKesin@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X@Lulukesin and Bluesky@bylulukesin.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Why Shane Beamer’s new South Carolina RB coach is Stan Drayton
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