South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer lost an assistant coach that he hired in early January to the Georgia Bulldogs this past week.
James Coley agreed in January to become the Gamecocks' new wide receivers coach. But after less than two months on the job, Coley packed up and left Columbia for Athens to take the same position at Georgia.
Coley previously served on Georgia's coaching staff under Kirby Smart from 2016 to 2019.
Beamer replaced Coley by hiring Limestone head coach Mike Furrey.
Furrey, who was the Chicago Bears' wide receivers coach from 2018 to 2021, spent nearly a decade playing for various teams in the NFL.
On Friday, Beamer introduced Furrey to reporters. The South Carolina head coach noted that everyone in the situation (he was specifically referring to Coley and Smart) "handled things the right way".
Beamer, however, didn't leave things there. He clearly has some animosity toward Coley for leaving. And he couldn't help but to throw some thinly veiled shade at Coley.
"I didn't think we'd be here again introducing a wide receivers coach," said Beamer. "But it is what it is. The previous receivers coach made a decision that he felt was best for his family. We collected the $450,000 (buyout) and then some that we were owed for violating or leaving his contract. And then it allowed us to go out and hire an even better wide receivers coach in my mind.”
"I want people that want to be here," added Beamer. "And if guys get opportunities to advance their career by going to be a head coach like Pete (Lembo) and Jody (Wright) did, then great. A guy gets an opportunity that he thinks is better for his family, in this instance, I don't have to like it, I don't have to agree with it. It was disappointing."
Beamer definitely sounds a little bitter about Coley's decision to leave South Carolina for Georgia.
What's odd, though, is that Beamer was recently on the other side of a similar situation. Beamer poached Shawn Elliott from Georgia State (where Elliott was the head coach) to serve as the Gamecocks' new tight ends coach. Elliott's reasoning for leaving Georgia State (he left in the middle of spring practice) was family-related.
Surely Beamer can understand Coley's reasoning then. But that didn't stop Beamer from making some petty comments about hiring an "even better wide receivers coach".
That's just Beamer being Beamer. He always seems to find a way to make a few backhanded comments about someone during his marathon media sessions.
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