SC coach indebted to Pittman
South Carolina Coach Shane Beamer was a Georgia assistant along with University of Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman from 2016-17.
Pittman left Arkansas to be the Bulldogs’ offensive line coach, a position he had coached for many years. Beamer was coaching tight ends for the first time after coaching defensive backs, linebackers, running backs and special teams at previous stops.
“The tight ends are so intertwined with the offensive line,” Beamer said on Wednesday’s SEC coaches teleconference. “It was a learning experience for me, but Sam was very patient and taught me a lot of football, which I appreciated as a first-time tight ends coach.
“We lived in the same neighborhood, so I got to know Sam very well during my time there. I think a lot of Sam.”
Beamer said he expected Pittman to do well at Arkansas.
“It’s not a surprise to me the success he’s having, because he’s the same guy day in, day out,” Beamer said. “Very genuine and just does a nice job relating to people.”
Beamer said he was impressed by Pittman’s comments Monday about being positive with players.
“I saw his press conference clip about positivity and caring about guys and building them up,” Beamer said. “I think that’s very powerful, and I agree, and I hope our program is perceived the same way with our players.
“Sam came in there and gave those guys belief, and he has them playing hard and put together a great staff, and they’ve done a fantastic job.”
Beamer and Pittman were hired at Georgia when Kirby Smart became the Bulldogs’ coach after being the defensive coordinator at Alabama for Nick Saban.
“I’ve heard Kirby tell stories when he was on the Alabama staff,” Beamer said. “He and [offensive coordinator] Jim McElwain used to kind of hold hands under the table in the staff room if Coach Saban was getting on them about something.
“I think ‘Kumbaya’ was the word that Kirby used when they were trying to hang in there together. Certainly Sam would agree with me. We both learned a lot from Kirby, and it’s a very demanding place.
“It made us better coaches, but certainly Sam and I had those ‘Kumbaya’ moments together as well as assistant coaches early in Kirby’s tenure.”
Will Kiffin be 1st?
Could the 24th time be the charm?
We’re talking about whether one of Alabama Coach Nick Saban’s former assistant coaches ever will beat him.
Saban is 23-0 against the men he used to employ. He’ll try to make it 25-0 over The No. 1 Crimson Tide’s next two games against No. 12 Ole Miss and at No. 15 Texas A&M.
Rebels Coach Lane Kiffin was Saban’s offensive coordinator at Alabama in 2014-16 and Aggies Coach Jimbo Fisher was his offensive coordinator at LSU from 2000-04.
“I certainly hope that, like I’m sure Jimbo does,” Kiffin, whose Rebels play at Alabama on Saturday, said of being the first of Saban’s assistants to beat him. “Is it only 23 [losses]? I thought it was 26.”
No, it’s 23, but it could get to 26 by the end of the season if Alabama beats Ole Miss and Texas A&M, then beats Georgia — coached by Kirby Smart — in the SEC Championship Game.
“He’s undefeated versus almost everybody,” Kiffin said in reference to Saban’s 280-82-1 record as a college coach. “There’s a reason he’s the best in the history of college football.
“Even when people know how his place works, he’s still undefeated, which is amazing.”
Last year Kiffin revealed that some of Saban’s former assistants had a text thread going, but he said that it has “ended down a little bit” with Will Muschamp being fired at South Carolina and Jeremy Pruitt fired at Tennessee.
Kiffin said Fisher wasn’t a part of the text thread.
“Jimbo didn’t make our cut,” Kiffin said. “It was a long time ago [Fisher coached with Saban].
“Every once and while there’s something on there, but not as much anymore.”
Kiffin is 0-1 against Saban as a former assistant, Fisher is 0-4 and Smart is 0-3 among active SEC coaches who have faced him.
Alabama’s 12-10 victory over Tennessee in 2007 when Kiffin was the Vols’ coach doesn’t count against him because he hadn’t yet coached with Saban.
The Rebels threw a scare into the Tide last year before Alabama held on to win 63-48.
Finley homecoming
T.J. Finley could be Auburn’s starting quarterback when he returns to Tiger Stadium on Saturday night.
It seemed an improbable scenario with Bo Nix in his third season as Auburn’s starter and Finley the backup after transferring from LSU, but things changed drastically last week when Auburn needed a late rally to beat Georgia State 34-24.
With Nix struggling in the passing game, Auburn Coach Bryan Harsin replaced him with Finley, who then led a gamewinning, 98-yard drive capped by his 10-yard touchdown pass to Shedrick Jackson with 45 seconds left and a two-point conversion that put the Tigers ahead 27-24.
Smoke Monday then had a 36-yard interception return for the final 10-point margin.
“It’s my homecoming, and I look forward to it,” Finley said about the Auburn-LSU game according to Al.com. “I just can’t wait to enjoy 100,000 in Tiger Stadium, and whether I’m starting or not, I just want to be part of the team and help the team win in any way possible.”
Harsin hasn’t named a starter and doesn’t figure to tip his hand before the LSU game.
Finley, a sophomore, started five games for LSU last season and passed for 941 yards and five touchdowns. He was 2-3 in his starts with victories over South Carolina and Arkansas.
Max Johnson took over as LSU starter late in the season and Finley decided to transfer.
“T.J. came in there and what a tremendous job he did to win the game,” LSU Coach Ed Orgeron said of Finley’s play against Georgia State. “Made some tremendous plays. As we know, T.J. is a great young man, great young quarterback. He looks like he’s having a lot of success there and we’re happy for him.”
During Orgeron’s Monday news conference, he recalled Finley’s transfer decision.
“First of all, T.J. came and talked to me like a man in my office,” Orgeron said. “He didn’t want to leave, he was crying. LSU meant a lot to him and I knew that, but it was a decision that was made that was best for him and so he left.
“He looks like he’s doing well so we wish him the best, not obviously against us, but hey, T.J.’s always going to be a part of our family.”
Mizzou return
Tennessee Coach Josh Heupel will return to Columbia, Mo., on Saturday when the Volunteers face Missouri, where he previously was an assistant coach.
Heupel was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Missouri Coach Barry Odom in 2016-17. Odom is now Arkansas’ defensive coordinator.
Calling plays for Missouri helped Heupel become a head coach after he had been fired as offensive coordinator at Oklahoma, which he helped lead to the 2000 national championship as the Sooners’ quarterback. He landed at Utah State as offensive coordinator, then Odom gave him an opportunity to get back in a Power 5 conference.
“It had a huge part [in becoming a head coach], the success that we had in taking over a program that had a recent struggle in the previous year,” Heupel said Wednesday during the SEC coaches’ teleconference. “Having to rebuild the culture really from the ground floor in my opinion, and doing the things we were able to do. Our second year, we got hot at the end of the year and started playing good football, in particular on offense, but really collectively.”
Missouri improved from 4-8 in 2016 to 7-6 in 2017.
“The players are the first think that come to mind for me when I think about heading back to Missouri this weekend. The relationships you formed and the guys that were part of that experience. It was an awesome two years for myself and our family.”
Heupel left Missouri to become the coach at Central Florida, where he had a 19-5 record in three seasons, and now is in his first season at Tennessee.
Got the time?
Mississippi State is averaging 33:53 for its time of possession.
Bulldogs Coach Mike Leach isn’t impressed given his team’s 2-2 record and rank of 73rd in scoring offense with an average of 28.3 points per game.
“A stat that is nearly useless is time of possession,” Leach said at his Monday news conference. “We might lead the nation in that, which I take no gratification out of.
“We are making plays. We are putting plays together. We have to do that in the context of [scoring] drives. We have to finish drives.”
Mississippi State leads the SEC in time of possession and ranks seventh nationally.