Beamer

Not only will we here at The Officially Unofficial Mississippi State Athletics Blog be watching the VT-GT game in newly expanded Lane Stadium this weekend, but so are these guys, which always makes things more entertaining.

State fans may find this article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Hokie Head Coach Frank Beamer interesting.

Excerpts of interest:

On a cold Monday morning, two days after that dismal 2-8-1 season ended, (current VT AD) Braine was summoned to the office of the university president, Dr. James McComas. "The meeting lasted maybe 10 minutes, max," Braine said. "He asked me point blank: 'Do we need to get rid of our football coach?' I said, 'No sir. He's a good coach. But we need to give him more money to hire some assistant coaches.'

"What Frank's done wasn't impossible, but it was next to impossible," Braine said. "He's accomplished something that no one dreamed was ever possible at Virginia Tech."

"His whole thing is, don't ever get too high and don't ever get too low," said Beamer's only son, 27, now in his second year as a defensive assistant and recruiting coordinator at Mississippi State. "I know he feels really good about this year's team, but the only thing he says is, 'I think we have a chance to be pretty good.' "He always says, 'Things can change quickly.' So, stay steady, stay even-keeled, and I can seed that in Dad in his coaching and his life. That's him."

A rocky start: None of that, however, mattered in the fall of 1992, when Shane Beamer was a sophomore quarterback at Blacksburg High and life was tough for the entire family. "I can remember going to school, a couple of teammates of mine would always say, 'Hey, where you gonna be living next year?' Or, 'Who's our quarterback gonna be next year? You're not gonna be here.' "

The night of Blacksburg High's homecoming dance, Shane recalled showering while listening to Virginia Tech's loss at Louisville. "I remember sitting there in the bathroom, crying and being very upset," he said. So was his younger sister, Casey, then 11, who answered the phone later that night — the Beamers' home phone number was listed then — and the caller asked for Frank.

"This guy just lit into her," Shane said. "He said what a terrible coach her dad was, and Virginia Tech needed to fire him. What kind of guy would call and rip into an 11-year-old girl, as far as what kind of coach her dad is?"

When Shane came of age, he went to the Department of Motor Vehicles, took his driver's test and passed. "They called my name to come up to the front counter," he said. "I reached to grab my license, and the guy said, 'Tell your dad he'd better win more football games if you want to keep this.' It crushed me. It was my 16th birthday."