As others postpone football to spring, Ray Tanner explains SEC and USC stance
Early on in a Tuesday radio interview, South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner said the machinations of the Big Ten were not something the SEC ADs and presidents paid attention to when it came to their football situation.
After a commercial break, he had to answer more concrete questions after news broke the Midwestern league will not play fall football and looks toward the spring.
“We’re approaching this (from) a different standpoint at this time,” Tanner told 107.5 The Game. “It could be something we address. But it’s not where we’re looking right now.”
The SEC has preached patience after an unusual weekend. After a week of unveiling new schedules adjusted for the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mid-American Conference dropped out of fall football and reports started to swirl the Big Ten would do the same.
Both the Big Ten and Pac-12 announced Tuesday they would not play fall sports, with spring being an option. The SEC and ACC have publicly said they plan to push forward with fall sports, at least for the moment.
Tanner said he thought spring football was going to be a tall task, to say the least. Some players will depart to start the NFL Draft process, and there’s the turnaround from six or more games in spring to a full season in the fall.
“You got the situation that, how many games can you play and turn it around and start going back in the fall?” Tanner said. “That’s also something you have to think about seriously. There’s a workload that you put on a student-athlete. I don’t know that you can get there and make it the way you would like for it to be. It seems to be a tremendous challenge to me.”
Looking at the sudden change in approach from the Big Ten, which went from announcing a schedule to canceling the season in a matter of a week, Tanner mentioned the different levels of decision makers (coaches, ADs, presidents) in the college sports world.
Looking back, he mentioned an instance when SEC baseball coaches, him among them, were united on a particular issue and got denied anyway.
Tanner also said that if there are games with limited fan capacity, the school could be looking at $40 million to $70 million in lost revenue from a budget around $127 million. Then he turned attention to the idea the department can make up money down the line, but players won’t be able to make up lost years or careers.
“It’s one of those situations that the Big Ten is out,” Tanner said. “They made a decision that they’re out. There’s other conferences that are continuing to try to go down the path that we are, to be prepared to play to make sure the protocols are in place. And we will stay there. It changes from time to time.”
Notes:
▪ The USC athletics department has started its inquiry into Mike Bobo and a report he made racially insensitive comments while he was head coach at Colorado State. Tanner said he and other administrators have spoken to Bobo, and the department will prepare a report for school president Robert Caslen about the situation.
“Those things we don’t take lightly, but I have great respect for Mike Bobo,” Tanner said. “I will tell you that, and I have heard from a number of student-athletes in a very positive way.”
▪ Tanner said he was a believer in student-athletes speaking up and having their voices heard in the workings of college sports. Hundreds of football players started pushing the #WeWantToPlay message on social media and aligning with moves to organize college athletes in some capacity.
“I like it,” Tanner said. “I like their involvement I like their dialogue. You know, when when you’re 18 to 22, do you have all the answers? No.. You don’t have them when you’re 50 to 60 either, sometimes, so the important part is that they’re part of the dialogue, they’re at the table.”
▪ Tanner also expressed concern about some of the other fall championships. The NCAA could decide the fate of events such as soccer and volleyball Wednesday. The Gamecocks have featured a solid volleyball program the past few years and women’s soccer is a perennial NCAA tournament presence.
This story was originally published August 11, 2020 at 3:46 PM.
