Beamer's college coaching experience began in 1972 as 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. In 1987, Beamer was hired as Head Coach at Virginia Tech.

Beamer took over a Hokies football program that was largely unsuccessful in its first century, reaching only six bowl games in that time span. Beamer built the Hokies into a perennially ranked team. In 19 years at the helm of VT, his overall record is 146-79-2. His teams have made 14 consecutive bowl appearances. During his tenure as coach, the program has evolved from independent status to a member of the Big East Conference to a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. His teams have won three Big East Championships and one ACC Championship.

He won Big East Coach of the Year awards in 1995, 1996, and 1999. In 1999, he won consensus National Coach of the Year honors when he led Virginia Tech to an undefeated regular season and appearance in the National Championship game against Florida State. Beamer was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year in 2004, his first year competing in the league. He repeated as ACC Coach of the Year in 2005 while leading his team to the ACC Coastal Division title and an appearance in the inaugural ACC Championship game.

Beamer is married and has two children, Shane and Casey. Shane played football at Virginia Tech and was a member of the 1999 team that advanced to the National Championship. As of February 2007, Shane is the new special teams coach at the University of South Carolina.