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Shane Beamer carves own identity
Shane Beamer has been on the Virginia Tech sideline in body or spirit for 14 of his 23 years. His father, Frank, has been the Hokies coach since 1986, and Shane spent the last three seasons as the team's long snapper. When Virginia Tech opens the season on Aug. 27 against Georgia Tech, Shane will be on the sideline again -- the opposite sideline, as a graduate assistant for the Yellow Jackets. "Dad and I stay away from talking about it," Shane says. "We talk about what I'm doing in Atlanta, our golf games. We don't talk about the game." Frank Beamer and Yellow Jackets offensive coordinator Ralph Friedgen coached together at Maryland and The Citadel in the 1970s. "Frank and I were in Lamaze class together before Shane and my daughter Kelley were born," Friedgen says. Shane considers the Friedgens family. The Beamers, Friedgens and Georgia Tech coach George O'Leary have all owned vacation property on the same lake in northeast Georgia for a number of years. Score one for the old-boy network. We may be in the midst of the greatest economic boom in generations, but the law of supply and demand still applies. There are only 115 Division I-A schools. Each team may hire two graduate assistants. Some hire a third g.a. for the weight room, where Beamer will work with the Yellow Jackets. You hire who you know, and Friedgen has watched Shane grow up. O'Leary has the ideal Hokie mole in his midst. No one knows the Virginia Tech players or the head coach better than Shane Beamer. Yet O'Leary has steadfastly refused to use Beamer as a resource in assembling a game plan. Says Friedgen, "George made it a point with the coaches: 'Don't put him in that situation. If he wants to volunteer something, fine.'" O'Leary is also being careful because he doesn't want Shane to become a double agent. Blood is thicker than water, and all that. Shane reveled in Virginia Tech's run to the edge of glory last season. But he knows what coaching is really like. He recalls his high school years, when Hokies fans wanted to run his father out of Blacksburg. "Guys would come up to me and say, 'Hey, Beamer, where are you gonna live next year?'" Shane says. Nevertheless, he wants to coach. It's the family business. Shane is grateful that neither his dad nor his new bosses are putting him in an awkward position. He thinks his discretion will help him down the road, when he tries to get a full-time coaching job. Then again, he has not been above talking trash with his former teammates in Blacksburg. "They tell me I could be the greatest assistant in Virginia Tech history by giving away secrets," he says. "I told them, 'I'm telling these Georgia Tech guys what play is on.' They asked, 'Shane, are you going to be on the sideline? Watch out for us.'" He's laughing at this point. "They mean they might try to get me in a pileup." The game, a benefit for the Black Coaches Association, was a late addition to the schedule. O'Leary says he decided to take the road contest for a few reasons. The Hokies lose eight starters on defense. The Yellow Jackets return 34 of 44 players on the two-deep from a team that played in a Jan. 1 bowl game. O'Leary wanted a game that would grab the attention of his players in the offseason. He didn't have any trouble getting the attention of one of his graduate assistants. Shane Beamer learned of the game during an April vacation, reading the paper as he ate breakfast. "I said, 'Ooooohhhhh,'" Shane says. Then he looked across the table at his father. Shane Beamer realized that life as he knew it was about to end. He is a Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech and a helluva engineer. Sports Illustrated senior writer Ivan Maisel covers the college football beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Catch Ivan Saturday mornings on CNN's "College Football Preview" starting August 26.
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