Frank Beamer: Building Virginia Tech, Beamer Ball & a Legacy of Leadership | On the Line with Jim Pyne

On The Line with Jim Pyne

Jim Pyne interviews legendary Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer about his career, leadership philosophy, and the evolution of the Hokies foot

Key takeaways

• Frank Beamer believes that truthfulness is the foundation of leadership; once trust is lost with a player or assistant, it can never be recovered.
• The 1993 season (9-3 record) served as a critical turning point for Virginia Tech after a difficult 2-8-1 campaign in 1992.

Main topics

• Leadership and Integrity
• Building the Virginia Tech Football Program

Notable quotes

Be truthful if you ever are not truthful with a guy, a player, or an assistant coach, or an administrator. You'll never gain that trust back.

Conclusion

The episode offers a masterclass in long-term program building, emphas

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) Welcome to On The Line with Jim Pine. I'm Jim Pine. This episode is brought to you by PLS Aviation. Private aviation perfectly executed. Now let's get on the line. On today's show, we have one of the greatest coaches of all time, probably the greatest coach, in my opinion, I've ever been around, seen, heard, had the privilege of playing for and learning from. It's the great coach Frank Beamer. Coach has won 238 games at Virginia Tech. In my senior year in 1993, we went 9-3, won an Independence Bowl, and coach went to a bowl game ever since then, 25 years after. Built a program into what it is today. Really put it on a national level. Unbelievable job. Just a great guy. Beamer ball, special teams, toughness, grit. The man stands for that. But the thing I say about Coach, he look you in the eye, tell you one thing, and he'd do it, which is rare in this world in any profession. So welcome to On the Line today with Coach Frank Beamer. Coach, welcome to the show. All good, Coach. Appreciate the time. It's great to hear you. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Great to hear your voice. How are things? How are things? I know you've got a birthday coming up, I believe, next month. How are things for you? How's life? Speaker 3 (1:10) Everything's good. We're down here in Charlotte. Speaker 3 (1:14) Casey's in Charlotte. And then Shane's down in Columbia, so we're close to the grandkids. So we're chasing them around and having a good life right now. How Speaker 1 (1:24) many grandkids is it now, Coach? Speaker 3 (1:26) We've got six. Shane has three and Casey has three. Speaker 1 (1:30) That's great. That's great. A lot of coverage. Good stuff. Yeah, so, Coach, it's great. I've been doing this podcast. It's a great show. It's fun. I just get to dial back, and you're someone I definitely wanted to talk to and kind of have a great conversation with. Yeah. All good. So, Coach, just talking about you, obviously our history. You know, I'm one of the greatest coaches of all time. I got you. It's fun to talk to you. I remember when way back, right? I mean, back, you know, you recruited me in 1989, 1990 up in Massachusetts. I remember fondly the times you came to the house. in that whole process. So take me back. You grew up in Hillsville, Virginia, right? I mean, that's where you grew up. Back then, what was Tech, Coach? I know you ended up going to Tech and you were a DB there, but back then, talk to me about why you went to Tech as a player. Speaker 2 (2:21) Yeah, Tech was kind of the Speaker 2 (2:28) Junior Tech. And then Speaker 3 (2:30) I had some relatives on my dad's side that had graduated from Junior Tech. More of them had graduated actually from VMI, but there's a couple in there from Junior Tech. So, you know, that was just always the school I wanted to go to. It was about an hour from where I grew up. And, you know, that was the school for me. You know, I just, when they sent them an assistant coach. A guy that actually was on the baseball staff and just helped him out as far as on signing day. And so I didn't even deserve a regular assistant coach to come and see. So when he walked in and offered me a scholarship, I said yes. I didn't want him to walk out and change his mind. So I said yes right away. Wanted to get that cleared up. And the rest was history. Speaker 1 (3:18) Yeah. And who was the head coach back then, Coach, when you got recruited to play there? Speaker 3 (3:22) Yeah, Jerry Klaben. Speaker 1 (3:24) Yeah. Speaker 3 (3:25) Yeah, just a guy I really admired and really a fantastic coach. And had a Kentucky and Alabama background. You know, just a really, really good coach. Speaker 1 (3:37) Yeah, what was he good at, Coach? What was his specialty? What did you learn from him, from playing for him, that you did when you got the jobs and you became a coach and a head coach? Speaker 2 (4:04) Be truthful if you ever are not Speaker 3 (4:07) truthful with a guy, a player, or an assistant coach, or an administrator. You'll never gain that trust back. I mean, you've lost it forever. And that's a terrible thing when people hear you talk and say, is he telling me the truth or not? That's a terrible thing to lose. You know, that's another thing I think I learned. So it was a great experience being around Coach Claiborne and learning from him and knowing him. It was a great experience. Speaker 1 (4:36) And you were able to go, I believe, to some Liberty Bowls, right? Was that Tech's first bowl games you were involved in those? Was that back then? Speaker 3 (4:45) Yeah, it was. We went to the Liberty Bowl my sophomore year. And then again, my senior year in there, we hadn't been to a bowl in a while, so that was a big deal for us at that time. Speaker 1 (4:58) Yeah, no question. Great memory. I always remember seeing the old pictures in the facilities and stuff, seeing all that success and what a great stuff. So, Coach, you go back. Then you worked. You were in Maryland for a little bit, the Citadel. Then Murray State is your first head job. What did you learn at Murray State that kind of helped you develop? as a coach that you took to Virginia Tech. Speaker 3 (5:22) Yeah, I went there under Mike Godfrey and Ron Sook. Speaker 3 (5:28) And, you know, and then Ron's gone and had a good career. And, of course, working under Coach Goffrey was really special, too. So, you know, it's just it was pretty amazing. I was at the Citadel. And we, you know, at that time, we're having a hard time talking kids into coming to a military school. And so I, you know, recruiting at Murray State was like a, you know, like a shot in the arm. I mean, you it's really. pretty easy and real good. It's a great school and great academics. So, you know, things have a way of working out and that certainly worked out for me. Speaker 1 (6:08) Sure, no, absolutely. It's historical stuff. So then Virginia Tech comes knocking. They're looking for a new coach and they pick you. You come and I know I've seen some of the stuff you said and obviously being part of what you built. The first few years, right, in today's world, it almost doesn't happen anymore. Someone has a patience to let a guy come in and build a program. But you were able to do it. They were coming off some probation, so you didn't have a full deck you were dealing with, but you were able to build it the right way and build it with the key people. What were some of the key things, Coach, when you were building a culture at Virginia Tech early on and the people you brought in? What were some of the key things that you look back and say, hey? I'm glad I did it this way or that way or didn't do this or didn't do that that you learned from. Speaker 3 (6:53) Yeah, we were 2, 6, and 1 in my sixth year at Virginia Tech. Now, tell me how many people could survive that today. In today's world, if you're 2, 6, and 1 in your sixth year, you probably need to be looking for another door to get out of there. Speaker 2 (7:11) But Speaker 3 (7:11) anyhow, people treated me great, and we got turned around. Went on and had a lot of success after that. And great people in Murray, Kentucky. I mean, some of our best friends today live in Murray and come from around Murray, Kentucky. So it was just, you look back and you're really thankful you had that experience. Speaker 1 (7:34) Yeah, no question. And I remember, I think it was my junior year, you referenced that year, I think, 92, we were... 2-8-1 or whatever. We were winning seven of the eight games in the fourth quarter. We ended up losing them. It was tough