Frank Beamer doesn’t sound like a coach who will be retiring at any point in the near future. When he does, though, he has an idea for a replacement.
As part of the ESPN car wash Tuesday featuring some coaches from the ACC, the 68-year-old Beamer was asked who he thought should take over the reins at Virginia Tech when he decides to hang up his coaching whistle. Two current Hokie coaches were mentioned specifically, Beamer’s son and Tech associate head coach/running backs coach Shane Beamer and the man who most assume will take over in Blacksburg when Beamer calls it quits, long-time defensive coordinator Bud Foster.
“Absolutely,” Beamer said when asked if he wanted someone from his current staff to take over. “It’s up for the people of Virginia Tech to decide who [my successor] should be exactly, but I’ve got a great staff of very competent people. Hopefully, someone from the staff will be chosen to be the next coach at Virginia Tech.”
Beamer, the winningest coach in school history, will be entering his 29th season as the Hokies head coach. In August of last year, Tech announced a two-year contract extension that means Beamer is now signed through Jan. 1, 2019. He also underwent a bit of a health scare last December, although he says he’s fine now.
Foster, who has been on Beamer‘s staff since 1987 and served as the coordinator since 1993, reached agreement on a new five-year contract in late December of last year that keeps him signed through the end of the 2019 season, one year longer than his current boss. Foster’s name has been attached to myriad head-coaching openings the past decade and a half, although he’s never pulled the trigger on a move out on his own. He’s also been mentioned regarding various coordinating vacancies, allowing this past March that Texas A&M’s interest in him following the 2014 season “was probably as close as I’ve ever been to leaving this place.”
The 38-year-old Shane Beamer, meanwhile, has only been on his dad’s staff for the past four years, although he did play wide receiver for the Hokies in the mid-nineties. He’s spent time on staffs at Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Mississippi State and South Carolina.