Frank Beamer (born October 18, 1946 in Mount Airy, North Carolina) is the current head coach of the Virginia Tech Hokies football program. Beamer grew up in Hillsville, Virginia where he earned 11 varsity letters in high school as a three-sport athlete in football, basketball, and baseball. He then attended Virginia Tech and was a starting cornerback for three years on the football team, playing in the 1966 and 1968 Liberty Bowls.

He graduated in 1969 and then attended Radford University for graduate school while serving as an assistant football coach at Radford High School. Beamer's college coaching experience began in 1972, when he became a graduate assistant for the University of Maryland, College Park. After one season, he became an assistant coach at The Citadel under Bobby Ross.

He spent seven seasons at The Citadel, with the last two as the defensive coordinator. He moved on to become the defensive coordinator at Murray State University in 1979 under Mike Gottfried. After two seasons, he was promoted to Head Coach and spent six seasons as the Head Coach at Murray State, compiling a record of 42–23–2.

On December 22, 1986, Beamer was hired as the head coach of Virginia Tech. Beamer was to replace Bill Dooley, whose nine-year tenure was the most successful—in terms of total wins and winning percentage—in school history. Beamer signed a four-year contract worth $80,000 annually, and at the time, new Tech athletic director Dale Baughman—hired to replace Dooley, who also served as both Tech's athletic director and head football coach—received some criticism for hiring Beamer.

"Some people have questioned this decision because he is not a big name," Baughman said at the time. "But it's a sound decision, and I'm standing by it."

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