Lane Kiffin broke 'unspoken rule' as LSU coach, South Carolina's Shane Beamer says

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

COLUMBIA — When Shane Beamer sat beside three new coaches on Dec. 12, he thought he knew what South Carolina football’s staff would look like in 2026.

On Jan. 2 Beamer found himself back in the same room introducing another new hire.

Sterling Lucas, Beamer’s defensive ends/outside linebackers coach for the past five seasons, took a job at LSU under new coach Lane Kiffin. Beamer said Lucas told him he was offered the job at 11 p.m. on a Thursday night then by Friday at 9 a.m., he was “gone.”

Lucas was announced as LSU’s new defensive line coach Dec. 22, and Deion Barnes, who Beamer introduced on Jan. 2, was hired on Dec. 23.

“Little bit unusual,” Beamer said. “Usually you get a phone call from the head coach of the school, giving you a heads up that he’s interested in maybe talking to one of your coaches. That didn’t happen which again, there’s no rule that that has to happen, but it’s kind of an unspoken rule.”

The first three offseason hires were a result of Beamer firing staff members.

“Didn’t hear anything from the other school, from the previous coach until he called to tell me that he’d been offered a job,” Beamer said. “So it wasn’t a very thorough interview process where you have a few days to kind of plan and think this might be coming down the track.”

The only transfer portal window of the season is open Jan. 2-16, so Beamer and defensive coordinator Clayton White had to work fast.

White suggested Barnes, who he met when recruiting a few years back. Barnes was hired from Penn State where he was the defensive line coach the last three seasons but first joined the coaching staff in 2020.

Since then, Penn State has led the nation in most defensive ends selected in the NFL Draft with seven.

Shane Beamer denies report on LaNorris Sellers, Dylan Stewart deals

In the middle of the coaching hires, quarterback LaNorris Sellers announced he’d return for 2026 instead of going to the NFL draft or transferring. Star edge rusher Dylan Stewart, who will be eligible for the 2027 draft, also announced he was not transferring.

Beamer quickly shot down a report the two deals would cost around $5 million, writing on social media, “This isn’t even remotely close to being true.”

He was asked on Jan. 2 if that number was too high or low.

“I’m not going to get into that. I think y’all can read between the lines. I don’t think I’d be getting on social media to brag about two players making $8 million because of what it would do to the locker room,” Beamer said.

Beamer said he made it known the number was inaccurate but the reporter stood by his source.

“I don’t walk in the team meeting next week when they come back and say, ‘Here’s the roster for 2026, here’s what everybody’s making from top to bottom, all right, let’s go,'” Beamer said. “We don’t do that. I’m all for it, but there’s no transparency. So when there’s inaccurate reports that come out like that, it’s frustrating, because there is no transparency, and there’s just a lot of misinformation out there that affects a lot of things.”

What Shane Beamer said about South Carolina OLs in transfer portal

Six offensive linemen from South Carolina have entered the portal.

Sellers was sacked 42 times, the second most in the country.

Beamer fired former offensive line coach Lonnie Teasley on Oct. 12 and hired Randy Clements. Clements came from TCU with new offensive coordinator Kendal Briles, who Beamer hired mid-December.

“I knew there was going to be somewhat of a reset,” Beamer said. “I knew there was going to be an offensive line coach coming in here that was going to be able to really shape that room the way the way they needed to. And I wasn’t sitting in there saying, ‘We need to blow the whole thing up and bring in all these new offensive linemen.'”

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: Shane Beamer says Lane Kiffin broke ‘unspoken rule’ as LSU coach

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos