USC coaches Shane Beamer, Frank Martin give first thoughts on potential SEC expansion

Commotion around the potential addition of Texas and Oklahoma to the Southeastern Conference has continued to gain momentum since initial rumors broke last week. South Carolina coaches reacted to the news during a Welcome Home tour stop at Williams-Brice Stadium on Monday.

The possibility of a new-look SEC became even more real Monday, when Texas and Oklahoma released a joint statement announcing they wouldn’t be renewing “grants of media rights following expiration in 2025” with the Big 12 conference. Later Monday afternoon, Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger reported that SEC presidents are expected to address expansion in a meeting Thursday.

South Carolina head men’s basketball coach Frank Martin said he’s expected a 16-team SEC would eventually become reality.

“All of us in it knew this number was coming,” Martin said. “We just didn’t know when or exactly what teams.”

He’s optimistic about what adding Texas and Oklahoma could do for SEC basketball. Bringing in two good basketball programs, Martin hopes, would help place the conference on a higher pedestal nationally.

“I’ve been in the league nine years,” Martin said. “For nine years, I’ve heard everyone say the Big 12 is the best league in the country, and we just got two of their better basketball programs to come into our league.”

Martin has Big 12 roots from when he was head coach of Kansas State from 2007-2012. Adding Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC could also help South Carolina gain a better foothold in recruiting across both states and in nearby Kansas, he said.

Meanwhile, head football coach Shane Beamer said he hasn’t paid much attention to the developing news. He’s had conversations with Oklahoma’s golf coach — a good friend of his — but he’s still navigating the influx of headlines and hasn’t had any official conversations with anyone at South Carolina about the matter.

“Obviously, there’s a lot happening in college football right now and across college athletics,” Beamer said. “Still trying to figure out what’s what, what’s real and what’s not real.”

Beamer was tight ends coach at Oklahoma from 2018-20 before taking the Gamecocks’ head coaching job this year, so he has recent, first-hand experience of what playing the Longhorns and Sooners would be, should they both end up in the SEC.

“I’m under the mindset of, we get to play these other teams,” Beamer said. “Certainly, it makes me more challenging, but it certainly makes it more exciting in a lot of ways, too.”

Beamer’s Gamecocks start preseason practice next week.