COLUMBIA, S.C. — Ray Tanner will step down as South Carolina's athletic director after 12 seasons, he announced 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 consecutive trip to the College World Series. He announced his intentions at a meeting of the school's board of trustees.
Tanner, 66, will remain athletic director until his successor arrives. Tanner will then become athletic director emeritus and senior adviser to the president, focusing on fundraising and community involvement.
The national search for an athletic director will begin at the end of the fall semester.
Tanner said he was honored to be in South Carolina for nearly three decades and to have the opportunity to continue in a different role.
“For some time now, I have thought that there will come a time for [South] “Carolina is going to have a new athletic director, and the president and I have had those conversations,” he said in a statement. “There was interest in me remaining at the university. I agreed to stay on in a new role because of my passion for this university, this city and this state.”
