Ray Tanner Q&A: Fall sports plans, tailgating and the long-awaited Gamecock statue
The world of college sports is a hectic one, and Ray Tanner is trying to navigate South Carolina’s way through it.
The day after the NCAA canceled fall sports championships, with plans to play football still in the works, The State caught up with the Gamecocks’ athletic director Friday to discuss a variety of issues facing his department.
An Q&A edited for clarity is below:
The State: You guys have submitted the crowd exemption plan to the Department of Commerce?
Tanner: “Preliminary. There’s two phases that you go through. So preliminarily. We put our thoughts together but not a formal application. But we did gauge, and now we’ll have to do a formal application.”
The State: What do you feel like that plan is going to look like, if there any details you have out there?
Tanner: “I think it’s gonna look like what I’ve talked about earlier. A social distancing-type of environment with fan attendance. It’s August 14. So if we stay on track, that would be my suggestion that we socially distance. And that is a plan that we will move forward with.” Tanner said earlier in the day on Sirius radio that the school was looking at 246. percent capacity, around 19,700 fans.
The State: Do you have a sense of what tailgating might look like and do you have any decisions on that, or is it still TBD?”
Tanner: “It is TBD. There have been lots of discussions internally, some discussions at the SEC level. But still to be determined. We’ve got a couple of ideas how we would would handle it. But it’s too early to roll that out this time.”
The State: Do you have any hand in some of the other lots around the stadium. Are they all independent?
Tanner: “They’re independent so we talk about the fairgrounds and Gamecock Park, then all the other lots around the stadium are privately owned. So we wouldn’t have any jurisdiction over those areas.”
The State: Does cancellation of NCAA championships affect if there’s going to be soccer seasons, or is that just another one up in the air, TBD?
Tanner: “It’s to be determined. Certainly there’s a lot of effects with the championship being canceled in soccer and volleyball. Do you continue to play SEC championship? Do you have a volleyball tournament for the maybe the first time? Because currently they don’t have a volleyball tournament. Do we do something in a hybrid model? Is there going to be a spring championship? So there’s still a lot of questions to be answered. But, ultimately, where I land is what the student-athletes feel is in their best interest. Do you get a year back? Some of these things, these questions haven’t been answered yet. So we have to figure all that out. But we’re here because of the student-athletes, and I’m gonna lean heavily on my input at the local level, at the SEC, at the national level to keep our student-athletes very healthy and pleased with the outcome. It’s a challenging time. But the way they feel about it is going to be ultimate with me.”
The State: Has there been any pivoting toward a discussion of basketball season’s structure? I know the PAC 12 said no sports until the start of the new year. Has there been any discussion in that, or is football and everything else still kind of in front of you?
Tanner: “There’s been some discussion that obviously in the fall sports with volleyball and soccer championships are very, very important. So that’s key there.”
The State: What are the conversations like with coaches at this point? How informed can you keep them and what is that dialogue like?
Tanner: “Well, I really try to keep them informed. I talked to coach Shelley Smith a couple times yesterday (and) coach (Tom) Mendoza because of what came out of the NCAA. They’re excited to be practicing and working out but there’s some uncertainty. That’s difficult. There’s some uncertainty as to what the future looks like and we’ve got to get to a place that we know what direction we’re taking. And that’s going to be in the best interest of our student-athletes and our coaches, especially.
The State: Any updates on the Gamecocks statue that’s going outside of Williams-Brice?
Tanner: “I’ll tell you there’s some good news there. Good news on that front. And I’ll leave it there.”
The State: Is there any timeline on that report that you were going to submit involving Mike Bobo and that situation with Colorado State?
Tanner: “No, there is no definite timeline.”
This story was originally published August 15, 2020 at 5:25 AM.
