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Shane Beamer speaks on father’s impact at Virginia Tech in ACC Network special

Shane Beamer reminisced Monday night about his time in eighth grade, helping his father carry headphone cords on the sidelines at Virginia Tech football games.

ACC Network produced an episode of “ACC Legends” centered on Frank Beamer, and the USC head coach was part of the special. This jogged Shane Beamer’s memory when he watched the show.

He’s adapted many of his father’s special teams philosophies, known as “Beamer Ball,” in his own coaching.

“He’ll be remembered as a guy that changed the way Virginia Tech was viewed,” Beamer said in the show’s promo. “He took Virginia Tech football, and the entire university, to unprecedented heights.”

The older Beamer went 238-121-2 as the Hokies’ head coach, winning 11 bowl games in the process. His teams finished 16 seasons in The Associated Press Top 25 rankings.

Shane Beamer played for his father from 1995-99, and joined his coaching staff in 2011 before leaving for Georgia after the 2015 season. ACC Network reached out to Shane Beamer to be in the episode, and he obliged.

“Certainly appreciative of the ACC Network considering him a legend and the ACC considering him a legend and then putting that together,” Beamer said.

The episode showed Frank Beamer’s role in establishing an identity for Virginia Tech built around physical defense and special teams creativity.

A few former Hokies were interviewed for the show, including Michael Vick, Brandon Flowers and others.

Shane Beamer also spent time with his dad in Kentucky growing up as a student at Southwest Elementary School, while his father was the head coach at Murray State.

During that time, he learned about the culture of sports that’s present in the state, citing how important UK athletics is to the people there.

South Carolina plays the Wildcats on Saturday, another team that has made noise with the special teams unit under head coach Mark Stoops.

“We’re going to need all three phases — offense, defense and special teams — to play really well Saturday night,” Beamer said.

Beamer said Stoops has built up Kentucky well since he started, something he’s looking to do with USC. He added that his father, Frank, was among the best in building a Power Five program.

As he watched footage of himself carrying those headphone cords for his dad, Beamer’s son, Hunter, approached him about doing the same thing for South Carolina.

“I had to tell him that they’re all cordless now,” Beamer said. “He was shook when he heard that one. We’ll figure out a job for him as he gets older.”

HOW TO WATCH ‘ACC LEGENDS: FRANK BEAMER’

Frank Beamer’s episode of ACC Legends airs again at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday on ACC Network, and a replay is available now on the ESPN app.