M
Mike Uva
Guest
In the world of college football, three years ago can sometimes feel like three decades ago, especially when it comes to appearing in a bowl game.
With South Carolina set to play in their first bowl game since 2018 later this month, Shane Beamer knows first-hand how much one should appreciate making a bowl game, knowing how long it took his father and College Football Hall of Fame coach Frank Beamer to appear in his.
“It makes you appreciate them because my dad’s first-year at Virginia Tech I was in fifth grade. And the first bowl game that Virginia Tech ever went to with my dad as the head coach was my junior year of high school. So from (the time I was in) fifth grade through my junior year of high school, he was trying to get the program going and never went to a bowl game,” recalled Shane.
When Frank retired from coaching college football in 2015, he held the second longest active consecutive bowl streak in FBS, a feat that is even more impressive since there were less than 20 bowl games held each season until 1997.
“So in 1993, when Virginia Tech got selected to the Independence Bowl to play Indiana, man you would’ve thought it was the Rose Bowl, the Super Bowl, whatever for people at Virginia Tech… My dad used to say it, ‘there’s no such thing as a bad bowl game.’”
With the College Football Playoffs first introduced for the 2014-15 season, perhaps to some, they feel like its devalued the other bowl games that are played. But as a coach, Beamer was adamant as to why his love for bowl games hasn’t changed.
“In my opinion, you certainly don’t want to lose the bowl experience because some of my greatest memories as a player and as a coach have been at bowl games,” explained Beamer, who has had the opportunity to coach in three College Football Playoff games as an assistant coach during his time between Georgia and Oklahoma.
“It’s a fantastic reward for not just the coaches and players but the for the staff and the families and everybody that gets to go together and be apart of. So I’m definitely in support of continuing to incorporate bowl games into any playoff expansion and hopefully the decision-makers are in an agreement as well. We all want what’s best for college football and certainly bowl games are a major part of that.”
With South Carolina set to play in their first bowl game since 2018 later this month, Shane Beamer knows first-hand how much one should appreciate making a bowl game, knowing how long it took his father and College Football Hall of Fame coach Frank Beamer to appear in his.
“It makes you appreciate them because my dad’s first-year at Virginia Tech I was in fifth grade. And the first bowl game that Virginia Tech ever went to with my dad as the head coach was my junior year of high school. So from (the time I was in) fifth grade through my junior year of high school, he was trying to get the program going and never went to a bowl game,” recalled Shane.
When Frank retired from coaching college football in 2015, he held the second longest active consecutive bowl streak in FBS, a feat that is even more impressive since there were less than 20 bowl games held each season until 1997.
“So in 1993, when Virginia Tech got selected to the Independence Bowl to play Indiana, man you would’ve thought it was the Rose Bowl, the Super Bowl, whatever for people at Virginia Tech… My dad used to say it, ‘there’s no such thing as a bad bowl game.’”
With the College Football Playoffs first introduced for the 2014-15 season, perhaps to some, they feel like its devalued the other bowl games that are played. But as a coach, Beamer was adamant as to why his love for bowl games hasn’t changed.
“In my opinion, you certainly don’t want to lose the bowl experience because some of my greatest memories as a player and as a coach have been at bowl games,” explained Beamer, who has had the opportunity to coach in three College Football Playoff games as an assistant coach during his time between Georgia and Oklahoma.
“It’s a fantastic reward for not just the coaches and players but the for the staff and the families and everybody that gets to go together and be apart of. So I’m definitely in support of continuing to incorporate bowl games into any playoff expansion and hopefully the decision-makers are in an agreement as well. We all want what’s best for college football and certainly bowl games are a major part of that.”
