COLUMBIA, S.C. — As the University of South Carolina’s baseball coach, Ray Tanner knew it was time for change more than a decade ago with his program at its most successful.
He could not escape that same feeling as athletic director these past few months with the Gamecocks on the rise in multiple sports.
Tanner, 66, said Friday he was stepping down after the current semester, ending a 12-year run for one of the longest-tenured ADs currently in the Southeastern Conference.
“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,” Tanner said.
According to a South Carolina release announcing the move, after his successor takes over, Tanner will “transition to become athletics director emeritus and senior advisor to the (university) president, focusing on fundraising and community engagement.”
Tanner’s baseball Gamecocks won national championships in 2010 and 2011, then reached the College World Series finals in 2012 before getting swept by Arizona in the best-of-three championship series. Soon afterward, he changed hats to become the school’s AD.
He’s leaving that job when it appears South Carolina’s athletic fortunes are trending upward all over.
The women’s basketball team visited the White House this week after winning the program’s third national title last season, and with coach Dawn Staley still in charge, the Gameocks will start the 2024-25 season among the favorites as they seek yet another NCAA Division I tournament trophy.
This summer, Tanner hired Paul Manieri, who won the 2009 College World Series during his time as LSU’s baseball coach from 2007-21, in hopes of the Gamecocks again becoming postseason contenders in baseball.
Tanner also retained men’s basketball coach Lamont Paris with a long-term contract after he led the Gamecocks to the NCAA tourney this past season, their first such appearance in seven years.
And the football team is 2-0 overall and 1-0 in Southeastern Conference play after a dominant performance against Kentucky last weekend. The Gamecocks are set to host No. 16 LSU in a sold-out game Saturday with ESPN’s “College GameDay” program in town.
“I was somewhat hesitant about today myself, because we do have a lot going on,” Tanner said. “But again, there never is a perfect time. But it is — it’s not a sad day, it’s a happy day.”
Tanner had discussions with university president Michael Amiridis the past few months about his future. The longer talks went on, Tanner said, the higher the chance of the news coming out before both sides wanted it.
“I’ve already had some people, I won’t give you any names, but a couple people reach out to me, ‘Hey, what do you know about that? I’d like to have that job,'” ESPN’s Rece Davis, host of “College GameDay,” said Friday from Columbia.
A national search for a new AD will begin at the end of November, Amiridis said.
Tanner will be paid his current salary of $1.175 million through June 30, 2025. He will earn $987,500 in the next year and $800,000 in the final year of the deal, which ends June 30, 2028, “unless extended by mutual written agreement,” according to the letter from Armiridis in accepting his decision to leave as AD and transition to the new role.
Tanner’s tenure has had its highs and lows.
The women’s basketball has won those three national titles under Staley in 2017, 2022 and this year. 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 SEC.
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 had two winning seasons in his first three years.
Tanner said he was honored to be at South Carolina for nearly three decades and thankful for the chance to continue in a different role.
“I am glad to see he’s continuing on in a role with the university and his willingness to do that,” said Thad Westbrook, chairman of the university’s board of trustees. “Ray, he doesn’t have a degree from South Carolina, but there’s no one who loves our university more.”
Tanner, a former N.C. State baseball player who was later an assistant and the head coach of the Wolfpack, came to South Carolina in 1996 as baseball coach and went on to make six trips to the College World Series.
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 AD with experience who had a respect for athletics similar to what Tanner has displayed.
Tanner said he will not be closely involved in picking the person who follows him.
“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.”