On Monday, the TV in Shane Beamer‘s office was tuned into ‘Live From The Masters’ on Golf Channel. But there wasn’t much action for him to keep an eye on, because rain washed away the first day of practice rounds in Augusta.
The same could be said about the House v. NCAA case, which had a final approval hearing on Monday, April 7. Instead of finalizing the settlement, presiding Judge Claudia Wilken of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California asked the two sides to make some adjustments.
Hurry up and wait (a little longer).
Tuesday was business as usual for Beamer, who continues to take a wait-and-see approach when it comes to the House stuff. However, Ray Tanner got Beamer up to speed on what went down Monday, while over at the practice complex to watch the Gamecocks on Tuesday morning.
“He was kind of catching me up on some things that he had read and heard. … But general idea – I know other people in our athletic department and in our program were meeting (Monday) and talking about it, getting updates and things like that,” Beamer said. “But for us, we have a plan. There’s kind of a Plan A if this happens and it happens at this time, Plan B if this happens and it happens at this time and Plan C if none of it goes as we expect.
“We’re ready for all of it. Just kind of taking it day by day.”
That’s kind of how it goes in college athletics these days: One day at a time.
Seven days from now, the NCAA Transfer Portal will open again. The window closes on April 25.
Beamer’s plan heading into the spring window isn’t too much different than previous iterations. If he and the Gamecocks staff can add players who will improve the team, they’re open to all opportunities.
Reasonably speaking, of course.
“There are certainly some positions – you guys can look at us and know the depth and numbers are a little bit lower than what you would like,” Beamer said. “If there’s an opportunity to increase the depth and numbers in a room, we certainly want to do that, without a doubt, so is there a specific plan? No, we’re looking at every position and how we can be better as a football team.
“If that opportunity presents itself, we’ll certainly do that for sure. But it’s challenging also – there’s a lot of unknowns out there as well. Last year, we could have 120 players on our team. This year, if everything goes the way we think it’s going to go, we’re going to be down to 105, so you have to start talking about your roster cap.
“You can’t just be bringing in people. There’s always the 85-scholarship number, that hasn’t changed, so you’ve got to balance all that with potentially bringing somebody into the program that can make us better. But they’ve got to fit what we’re about, on and off the field and truly make us better for us to want to pursue someone in the portal.”
