COLUMBIA, S.C. — Shane Beamer, the man reportedly who'll be the new South Carolina Gamecocks football coach, is now in Columbia.
Beamer touched down in the Gamecock athletics plane just after 2 p.m. Sunday. He quickly waved and then got into an SUV with USC Athletics Director Ray Tanner, headed over to the school's athletics offices.
News reports began to surface Saturday night that Beamer was the school's pick to lead their team. That was shortly after USC ended its regular season Saturday night with a 41-18 loss to Kentucky. They finished the year at 2-8.
The school itself said nothing about the reports, but a formal announcement likely will happen Monday, although that has not bee announced.
Beamer, who's currently an assistant coach at Oklahoma, is the son of legendary Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer. But Gamecock fans will remember the younger Beamer's time as a member of Steve Spurrier's coaching staff from 2007 to 2010.
Video: Shane Beamer arrives in Columbia
During part of his stint with the Gamecocks, Beamer was in charge of recruiting, and helped reel in some of the biggest recruits in program history. Some of those blue-chip prospects eventually went on to help USC to their greatest stretch in program history, where they won an SEC Eastern Division title followed by three straight seasons of 11 wins.
In recent days, several of those former players have expressed support for Beamer as he became a leading candidate for the job, including current L.A. Chargers defensive lineman Melvin Ingram.
After his time at South Carolina, he went back to join his father's staff at Virginia Tech before moving on to Georgia for two years, and finally to Oklahoma.
Beamer would replace Will Muschamp, who was fired last month with three games to go in the season.