COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Ray Tanner is stepping down as South Carolina’s athletic director after more than 12 seasons, he said Friday.
Tanner, a two-time national champion baseball coach for the Gamecocks, took over as head of the department in 2012 following his team’s third straight trip to the College World Series. The 66-year-old announced his intentions at a meeting of the school’s board of trustees.
Tanner will remain athletic director until his successor arrives. Tanner will then transition to become athletics director emeritus and senior advisor to the president, focusing on fundraising and community engagement.
“There was going to be a time” to change, Tanner said. “When I coached baseball, I didn’t leave the baseball program because I didn’t think it was good anymore to become the athletic director, it was time. And I knew it was getting close to time in this role as well.”
A national search for a new athletic director will begin at the end of November, university president Michael Amiridis said.
Tanner’s tenure has had its highs and lows.
Women’s basketball has won three national titles under coach Dawn Staley in 2017, 2022 and, most recently, 2024. And while Tanner was still baseball coach when Staley came on board before the 2008-09 season, he helped keep her with the Gamecocks despite other outside opportunities.
Tanner has hired two full-time football coaches over his 12 years as the program has tried to make strides in the difficult Southeastern Conference.
Will Muschamp served from 2017 until his dismissal before the end of the 2020 season, going 28-30 overall and 17-22 in the SEC.
Current coach Shane Beamer was hired in December 2020 and has had two winning seasons in his first three years. The Gamecocks (2-0, 1-0 SEC) face No. 16 LSU (1-1) at home on Saturday.
Tanner said he was honored to be at South Carolina for nearly three decades and the chance to continue in a different role.
Amiridis was reluctant to let Tanner go as athletic director when the two began chatting about his successor. But Amiridis was pleased to have Tanner remain as athletic director emeritus and a presidential advisor with a focus on fundraising and community engagement.
“I am glad to see he’s continuing on in a role with the university and his willingness to do that,” said Board of Trustees chairman Thad Westbrook. “Ray, he doesn’t have a degree from South Carolina, but there’s no one who loves our university more.”
Tanner came to South Carolina in 1996 as baseball coach and went on to make six trips to the College World Series. The Gamecocks won it all in 2010 and 2011 and reached the final series in 2012 before missing a three-peat against Arizona.
A short time later, Tanner was named athletic director after Hyman left for Texas A&M.
Tanner said his successor would need to be “nimble” in navigating the new, rapidly changing world of college athletics.
Amiridis said he would look for an athletic director with experience who had a similar respect for athletics as Tanner.
Tanner said he will not be closely involved in picking the next athletic director.
“I’m gratefully for the time that I’ve been able to spend in South Carolina and the opportunity moving forward,” he said. “We have a great place, we have wonderful people and I’m excited to remain in a capacity that’s going to be new to me, but certainly will energize me in a way that I haven’t experienced in a number of years.”
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