Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun

Shane Beamer Breaks Silence on Controversial Bret Bielema Gesture

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Andrew McCarty | Last updated Dec 31, 2024 7:41 PM ET

The 2024 bowl season got a bit testy on Tuesday night as a Big Ten-SEC showdown took center stage.

South Carolina and Illinois took the field for the Citrus Bowl in a battle of 9-3 teams looking to finish the season with double-digit wins. The game took a strange turn in the second half with Illinois head coach Bret Bielema walked over to the South Carolina sideline while an Illinois player was down on the ground and gestured toward Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer.

The latter was incensed at the gesture and stormed toward Bielema, who walked away with a smile on his face. A postgame handshake between the two didn't spark the melee some thought it would, but Beamer was clearly still agitated by the actions of his counterpart following the game.

"It’s heated and competitive out there, but in all my years of being around football I’ve never seen an opposing head coach come over to an opposing team’s sideline and basically make a gesture toward the opposing head coach," Beamer said. "I think he was upset about something that we did on the kickoff return in regards to JuJu on a throwback to Nick Harbor. But I would say he needs to check the rule book. That's something that we cleared with the officials before the game."

Shane Beamer talking about Bret Bielema’s taunting.

Said he’s never seen a head coach do something like that in all of his years coaching pic.twitter.com/jvPKFpoTN1
— Jordan Kaye (@jordankaye_23) December 31, 2024

"Disappointing. I've got a lot of respect for him. He's obviously done this a long time, but in all my years of coaching I've never seen that - an opposing coach coming over, while his player is hurt," Beamer added.

For his part, Bielema avoided a question about Beamer charging at him during the game.

"It was a good football game," Bielema said in response to the question about Beamer. "I think the best thing to happen, we got ourselves in a bowl that means a lot to this program. 10 wins - fifth time in school history. We're trying to build something sustainable. Can't say enough about our kids and their effort and obviously a really good South Carolina team, very excited to get a W."

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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