DALLAS ― When current Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin took the coaching job at Southern Cal in 2010 and brought his dad, Monte Kiffin, with him, Shane Beamer picked up his pen.

Beamer, then the special teams coordinator at South Carolina, sent Monte Kiffin a letter. The goal of the letter, Beamer said, was just to introduce himself and express how much respect he had for Monte Kiffin ‒ one of the game's elite defensive minds.

"I got a phone call back from Monte Kiffin which I thought was one of the coolest things," said Beamer, heading into his fourth season as South Carolina's coach. "And he just spent 20 minutes talking to me on the phone."

Beamer used part of his opening statement on Monday at SEC Media Days to express sympathy for the Kiffin family following Monte Kiffin's death at the age of 84 on Thursday.

Beamer, like Lane Kiffin, is the son of a coach. His father, Frank Beamer, coached at Virginia Tech from 1987-2015 and won 238 games.

Shane Beamer worked under his father at Virginia Tech for five seasons. The Kiffins have worked together at each of Lane's four head coaching stops.

"Being the son of a coach as well, I know that relationship and I know it's a tough time for the Kiffin family," Shane Beamer said.

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David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.

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This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Shane Beamer shares Monte Kiffin memory at SEC Media Days 2024