So, did I miss anything in Columbia, S.C., this week?
The wonderful planner I am, I booked a trip out to Washington during the same week ESPN’s “College GameDay” took place down the road from my house, along with longtime AD Ray Tanner’s decision to retire .
Great work, I know. Please feel free to book me for all your future planning needs.
Jokes aside, there had been rumblings Tanner’s tenure might be coming to an end, but few I spoke with expected it to be this soon. Now an SEC AD job is open, and that will be sure to bring its share of options.
Sources told SBJ a few names worth monitoring at the Group of Five level include ADs Bryan Blair (Toledo, and an SBJ 2024 Forty Under 40 honoree ), Mike Buddie (Army), Jared Benko (Georgia Southern), Jeff Purinton (Arkansas State) and Chance Miller (Coastal Carolina). All have varying ties to the school or state and have done impressive jobs in their current spots. Tennessee Deputy AD Ryan Alpert, a Columbia native, should also get a look.
It’s also possible the school looks within its own conference. Could Florida’s Scott Stricklin or Arkansas’ Hunter Yurachek get involved? Stricklin’s time in Gainesville may be tied to Billy Napier’s future, while Yurachek isn’t in nearly as precarious a spot, but he did previously work at Coastal Carolina and has a son on the South Carolina football staff.
Where things get interesting is if there’s interest from ADs elsewhere in the Power Four.
It’s no secret the SEC and Big Ten have grown head and shoulders above the rest of college athletics. We’ve also already seen head football coaches leave their posts in favor of coordinator jobs within those conferences. Are ADs next for those kinds of moves?
South Carolina is a good case study for this working theory. It ranked 12th out of 15 public SEC schools in total revenue during the 2023 fiscal year, per USA Today’s college athletic department financial database. Still, the facilities are in a good spot, and there’s general stability around its head coaches in football (assuming things continue on an OK path for Shane Beamer), baseball and men’s and women’s basketball.
That confluence of factors may make it an intriguing proposition for a Big 12 or ACC AD looking to seek a job in a conference with significant long-term stability. That is, of course, if South Carolina is willing to pay. Tanner’s last deal paid him a shade under $1.2 million. South Carolina may not have to double Tanner’s salary to nab a sitting Power Four AD, but it might need to come close.
