Frank Beamer

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Frank Beamer

Title Head coach
College Virginia Tech
Sport Football
Team record 164-85-2
Born October 18, 1946 (1946-10-18) (age 61)
Place of birth Mount Airy, North Carolina
Career highlights
Overall 208-108-4
Bowls 6-9
Coaching stats
College Football DataWarehouse
Championships
3 Big East Conference
(1995, 1996, 1999)
2 Atlantic Coast Conference
(2004, 2007)
Awards
9 Coach of the Year Awards (See Awards)
2004 Humanitarian Award
Playing career
1966-69 Virginia Tech
Position Cornerback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1972 (GA)
1973-76 (DL)
1977-78 (DC)
1979-80 (DC)
1981-86
1987-present
Maryland
The Citadel
The Citadel
Murray State
Murray State
Virginia Tech

Frank Beamer (b. October 18, 1946 in Mount Airy, North Carolina) is the current head coach of the Virginia Tech college football program.

Beamer grew up in Hillsville, Virginia where he earned 11 varsity letters in high school as a three-sport athlete in football, basketball, and baseball. He then attended Virginia Tech and was a starting cornerback for three years on the football team, playing in the 1966 and 1968 Liberty Bowls. He graduated in 1969 and then attended Radford University for graduate school while serving as an assistant football coach at Radford High School.

Contents

[edit] Coaching

Beamer's college coaching experience began in 1972 as a graduate assistant for the University of Maryland, College Park. After one season, he became an assistant coach at The Citadel under Bobby Ross. He spent seven seasons at The Citadel, with the last two as the defensive coordinator. He moved on to become the defensive coordinator at Murray State University in 1979 under Mike Gottfried. After two seasons, he was promoted to Head Coach and spent six seasons as the Head Coach at Murray State, compiling a record of 42-23-2. In 1987, Beamer was hired as Head Coach at Virginia Tech.

Beamer took over a Hokies football program that was largely unsuccessful in its first century, reaching only six bowl games in that time span. Beamer has since built the Hokies into a perennially ranked team. In 19 years at the helm of VT, his overall record is 156-82-2. His teams have made 15 consecutive bowl appearances but Beamer has gone 6-9 in those 15 bowls. He also has a record of 0-3 in BCS Bowls. Besides his less than stellar record in bowl games, he's also struggled against top ten teams; going 6-27 against top ten schools since he took over the Tech job in 1987.

During his tenure as coach, the program has evolved from independent status to a member of the Big East Conference to a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. His teams have won three Big East Championships and two ACC Championships.

He won Big East Coach of the Year awards in 1995, 1996, and 1999. In 1999, he won consensus National Coach of the Year honors when he led Virginia Tech to an undefeated regular season and appearance in the National Championship game against Florida State. Beamer was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year in 2004, his first year competing in the league. He repeated as ACC Coach of the Year in 2005 while leading his team to the ACC Coastal Division title and an appearance in the inaugural ACC Championship game.

Year Team Overall Conference Standing Bowl Rank#
Murray State Racers (Ohio Valley) (1981 – 1986)
1981 Murray State 8-3-0
1982 Murray State 4-7-0
1983 Murray State 7-4-0
1984 Murray State 9-2-0
1985 Murray State 7-3-1
1986 Murray State 7-4-1 1st
Murray State: 42-23-2
Virginia Tech Hokies (Independent) (1987 – 1990)
1987 Virginia Tech 2-9-0
1988 Virginia Tech 3-8-0
1989 Virginia Tech 6-4-1
1990 Virginia Tech 6-5-0
Virginia Tech Hokies (Big East) (1991 – 2003)
1991 Virginia Tech 5-6-0
1992 Virginia Tech 2-8-1
1993 Virginia Tech 9-3-0 4-3 4th W Independence 20
1994 Virginia Tech 8-4-0 5-2 2nd L Gator 24
1995 Virginia Tech 10-2-0 6-1 1st W Sugar 9
1996 Virginia Tech 10-2-0 6-1 1st L Orange 12
1997 Virginia Tech 7-5-0 5-2 2nd L Gator
1998 Virginia Tech 9-3-0 5-2 3rd W Music City 19
1999 Virginia Tech 11-1-0 7-0 1st L Sugar 3
2000 Virginia Tech 11-1-0 6-1 2nd W Gator 6
2001 Virginia Tech 8-4-0 4-3 3rd L Gator 18
2002 Virginia Tech 10-4-0 6-1 4th W San Francisco 14
2003 Virginia Tech 8-5-0 4-3 4th L Insight
Virginia Tech Hokies (ACC) (2004 — present)
2004 Virginia Tech 10-3-0 7-1 1st L Sugar 10
2005 Virginia Tech 11-2-0 7-2 1st - Coastal W Gator 7
2006 Virginia Tech 10-3-0 6-2 2nd - Coastal L Chick-Fil-A 18
2007 Virginia Tech 11-3-0 8-1 1st L Orange 3
Virginia Tech: 164-85-2
Total: 208-108-4
      National Championship         Conference Title         Conference Division Title
Indicates BCS bowl game. #Rankings from final Coaches Poll of the season.

[edit] Beamerball

During the 'Beamer Era' at Virginia Tech, putting points on the scoreboard has become a full team effort - offensive, defensive and special teams. Often when the team scores one or more non-offensive touchdowns, the style of play is described as Beamerball. Since Beamer's first season in 1987, a player at every position on the defensive unit has scored at least one touchdown. And at least 25 different players have scored touchdowns while on VT's special teams.[citation needed]

[edit] Personal life

Beamer is married and has two children, Shane and Casey. Shane played football at Virginia Tech and was a member of the 1999 team that advanced to the National Championship. As of February 2007, Shane is the new special teams coach at the University of South Carolina.


[edit] Awards

Frank Beamer takes the field with the 2007 Virginia Tech Hokies football team
Frank Beamer takes the field with the 2007 Virginia Tech Hokies football team

[edit] Quotes

  • "There's a certain culture they have up there, they are all grounded kids and we want to have that same kind of culture here"--Then-Atlanta Falcons head coach Jim Mora on Beamer's program.

[edit] Trivia

  • Beamer was featured on one of the EA Sports announcements on NCAA Football 07.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Bill Dooley
Virginia Tech Head Football Coach
1987
Succeeded by
Current
Preceded by
Bill Snyder
Paul "Bear" Bryant Award
1999
Succeeded by
Bob Stoops
Preceded by
Bill Snyder
Walter Camp Coach of the Year
1999
Succeeded by
Bob Stoops