Their controversy behind them, Mark Stoops and Shane Beamer have much in common
There was that little Shane Beamer/Mark Stoops dust-up a couple of years ago. You remember. At the 2022 SEC Media Days, South Carolina released a hype video showing Beamer wearing sunglasses and dancing to a hip-hop song. Shortly after, Kentucky’s Stoops told an interviewer building culture was more than “stupid sunglasses.” Stoops insisted he wasn’t talking about Beamer. And when the teams met that season, the two were seen amicably chatting each other up at midfield during pregame. That didn’t stop Beamer from putting on a pair of sunglasses in Carolina’s postgame celebration after a 24-14 win, however. “I had a great conversation with Mark before the game about that incident from media days and whatnot and my respect level for him couldn’t be higher,” Beamer said afterward. “As head coach, though, I think you’re always looking for ways to find extra motivation for your guys each week.” After all, though employed by different schools and leaders of different programs, Stoops and Beamer are linked by the fact they have similar jobs. Yes, they are both college football coaches. It goes beyond that. They are college football coaches of programs without a ton of football tradition who are desperately trying to fight their way up the ladder in the sport’s toughest football conference — last weekend’s results notwithstanding.
