Shane Beamer contract: South Carolina football coach gets a raise, extension through 2030

Posted by author January 24, 2025 Football

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COLUMBIA — South Carolina’s board of trustees approved a new contract for South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer on Friday.

Beamer’s new contract begins Jan. 1 and runs through Dec. 31, 2030. His salary increased to $8,150,000 with an additional $100,000 on Jan. 1 of every year.

The buyout terms of the new contract are the same as his previous deal. If Beamer were to leave before Dec. 31, 2025, he would owe South Carolina $5 million with the buyout dropping $1 million every subsequent year.

Prior to Friday, Beamer was one of the lowest-paid coaches in the Southeastern Conference, making an annual salary of $6,401,996 as of October, which ranked 14th in the new 16-team SEC, sitting just above Jeff Lebby of Mississippi State and Clark Lea of Vanderbilt.

Beamer was hired Dec. 6, 2020, on a five-year contract with a $2.75 million annual base salary. In January 2023, he signed a contract extension through the end of 2027, which gave him a 122% raise, bumping his annual salary to $6.125 million. That made him the highest-paid coach in program history.

This season, the Gamecocks won nine games for the first time since 2017 and had a six-game win streak for the first time in 11 seasons. Beamer finished 5-3 in conference play, his best SEC record and South Carolina closed the season 9-4 after a loss to Illinois in the Citrus Bowl. Beamer (29-22 overall) passed former coach Steve Spurrier for most wins in the first four seasons at South Carolina.

“The culture and commitment to excellence that Coach Beamer has built in our football program shows that we are headed in the right direction and on a strong upward trajectory,” South Carolina athletics director Jeremiah Donati said in a news release. “Coach Beamer has made clear his desire to be at the University of South Carolina, and this extension shows our collective support for him as the leader of our football program.”

SEC football coaches’ salaries

Here is where Beamer stands among SEC coaches with the new raise, according to the USA TODAY Sports database from October.

Kirby Smart, Georgia: $13,282,580
Steve Sarkisian, Texas: $10,600,000
Kalen DeBoer, Alabama: $10,000,000
Brian Kelly, LSU: $9,975,000
Mark Stoops, Kentucky: $9,013,600
Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss: $9,000,000
Josh Heupel, Tennessee: $9,000,000
Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri: $9,000,000
Brent Venables, Oklahoma: $8,152,000
Shane Beamer, South Carolina: $8,150,000
Billy Napier, Florida: $7,370,000
Mike Elko, Texas A&M: $7,000,000
Hugh Freeze, Auburn: $6,728,100
Sam Pittman: Arkansas: $6,498,000
Jeff Lebby, Mississippi State: $4,250,000
Clark Lea, Vanderbilt: $3,189,744

Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin