South Carolina will name baseball coach Ray Tanner its new athletics director in a Friday press conference, GrandStrandSportsReport.com has learned.
Tanner, who led the Gamecocks to their third straight College World Series final last month, will give up his career in coaching baseball to become the new AD.
South Carolina associate baseball coach Chad Holbrook, Tanner’s top assistant, will take over as head coach of the Gamecocks – position Tanner has held for the past 16 years.
Tanner served as an associate AD at North Carolina State while also coaching the Wolfpack in baseball before coming to Columbia. He holds a masters degree in public affairs and administration from N.C. State.
Tanner will replace Eric Hyman, who resigned two weeks ago to take the ame position at Texas A&M. He served seven seasons in the post, hiring football coach Steve Spurrier and basketball coach Frank Martin.
Tanner built South Carolina into a national power on the diamond, lead the Gamecocks to back-to-back national championships in 2010 and 2011 before finishing second to Arizona this season.
