Netflix's documentary series "Last Chance U" is switching gears in Season 5 as it heads to a new college.
The show has announced this will be the final season of focusing on a college football team as "Last Chance U" will focus on a college basketball team, with those episodes airing in 2021. Fans have fallen in love with the documentary series, which focused on East Mississippi Community College in its first two seasons. We then got Coach Jason Brown at Independence Community College in Kansas for two seasons.
This season focuses on Laney College and its football team. We'll explain a little more about Laney below.
MORE: Where are the star players of Netflix’s ‘Last Chance U’ now?
Where is Laney College?
Laney College is located in Oakland, Calif.
From Laney's own website:
Laney College is the largest of the four Peralta Community College District campuses, serving approximately 16,000 students annually. As the flagship college for the Peralta District, Laney College stretches across sixty acres in downtown Oakland, California, one of the most ethnically and economically diverse cities in America. Laney is also one of the oldest community colleges in the nation, celebrating 67 years in 2020.
Why did Last Chance U pick Laney College?
The season before Last Chance U started filming, the Eagles went 11-2 and were the 2018 California Community College Athletic Association Football champions. But the main focus will be on Coach John Beam. He's a Hall of Fame coach who won CCCAA Football Coach of the Year the year prior to Netflix's arrival.
In all, Beam has coached more than 100 players who went on to play Division I football, and more than 20 who wound up playing in the NFL, including former Broncos and Raiders running back C.J. Anderson and ex-Steelers Pro Bowl tackle Marvel Smith. ... He’s mostly proud that more than 90 percent of the players at Laney wind up graduating or transferring to Division I schools.
Beam should be a change of pace for "Last Chance U" following the series' first pair of controversial coaches.
“We feel fortunate to be picked up for a fifth season and feel equally lucky to be able to tell the story of the California JUCO system through the stories found at Laney College and in the city of Oakland, California,” Last Chance U director Greg Whiteley told Esquire. “Coach Beam has had a Hall of Fame career, and as he begins his 40th year coaching we’re thrilled at the chance we’ll get to tell the stories found on the team, the school, and within the city of Oakland itself."
On July 28, meet the players and coaches of Laney College.
— Last Chance U (@LastChanceU) June 23, 2020
While it's the last football season, a new chapter begins with Last Chance U: Basketball, coming 2021. pic.twitter.com/epghuOSqqF
Who is Laney coach John Beam?
Beam has been coaching for a long time, starting in 1979 at Serra High School in San Diego as an offensive line coach. He eventually moved to Skyline High School where he became the head football coach in 1987. During his time at Skyline, Beam won 15 league championships, 11 section championships and had 4 undefeated seasons. He finished with a 160-33-3 record at Skyline.
He started at Laney in 2004 as a running backs coach before being promoted to offensive coordinator the following season. He became Laney's head coach in 2012 and has maintained a .600 career winning percentage while in charge.
All of this success is part of why Netflix chose to focus on him in its fifth season of "Last Chance U." However, Beam isn't too fond of that name.
“I told them we’re not ‘Last Chance U.' We’re your first chance. We’re your Best Chance U," Beam told The Mercury News. "I said you’re not (rejects). All those kids from the other shows either left school, got kicked out from a four-year school or something. Well, that’s not us. You’re the kids who came here for a reason. To better your grades or better you football outlook. We’re your best chance.”
