South Carolina Football Coach Shane Beamer has apologized to a group of female athletes who were on the field Saturday for a Title IX ceremony that Beamer says he was not informed about.
According to The Hill, Beamer was seen waving at the woman and yelling for them to get off the field when he was preparing to get back to play immediately after a TV timeout ended.
But the women were not just roaming around without purpose. They were invited onto the field for a Title IX ceremony between downs.
Head Coach Shane Beamer of the South Carolina Gamecocks on the field during a game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium on September 10, 2022, in Fayetteville, Arkansas. (Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
Beamer said he was not told that there was to be any such ceremony and he apologized if he angered the women who were there for an official purpose.
“I apologize to anyone that I offended,” Beamer told reporters on Sunday, ESPN reported.
The coach went on to explain what happened from his point of view.
“We send our offense out there to go for it,” Beamer exclaimed. “They’re on the line of scrimmage. Georgia is able to see the formation that we’re in. We did what we were asked to do, and we were not able to snap the football. I look down in the end zone and I see why. My first initial reaction was to yell, ‘Get off the field.’ I had no idea who was down there.
“I hope people know me well enough to know what an advocate I am for women’s sports,” Beamer added. “I’ve got two daughters of my own that play sports. I’m at as many women’s athletic events at Carolina as I can possibly be because I believe in them and support them, and anyone that thinks otherwise surely doesn’t know me.”
On Saturday, South Carolina soccer player Jyllissa Harris took to Twitter to blast Beamer for the incident and posted a video of Beamer yelling at them and looking agitated.
Video shows it wasn’t just a few women, but more than a dozen.
“All female student athletes were ~asked~ to come to the game to recognize 50 years of Title IX. We were on the field for maybe 15 seconds then screamed at to get off. If you want to honor female student athletes, then do that, not this,” Harris wrote.
Harris also slammed the school for its ill-thought-out plan to honor the women.
“It’s just if you want to “honor” female student athletes. Then an actual effort needs to be put into doing that. Don’t just do something to check a box,” she tweeted.
Harris also praised coach Beamer, though. “Coach Beamer however was coaching in the heat of the game and has been nothing but supportive of female sports,” she wrote.
The game went sideways for South Carolina in more ways than one as the Georgia Bulldogs went on to win, 48-7.
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