Hall of Fame Profile: Mike McGee Raised the Bar
Former Athletics Director Dr. Mike McGee (1993-2005) had a lot of challenges in his career, including elevating South Carolina’s revenues, coaching staff, and facilities in order to keep up with the high standards of playing in the Southeastern Conference, the league in which the school had officially started competing in 1992. For all of his efforts, McGee, who passed away in August of 2019 at the age of 80, is one of 10 members of the 2021 University of South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame class.
“Being inducted into the University of South Carolina Hall of Fame is one of the greatest honors that Mike has ever achieved because we know how much the university, its staff and alumni meant to him,” said widow Ginger McGee, his wife of 58 years. “Mike often said that his decision to come work alongside the men and women at South Carolina was the best career decision he ever made because it allowed him to serve the people of South Carolina, the most deserving fan base in the entire country.”
During his tenure, McGee hired transformational head coaches such as Ray Tanner for baseball, Curtis Frye for track and field, Dave Odom for men’s basketball, and Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier for football. In McGee’s final eight years at South Carolina, 13 Gamecock head coaches earned either national or SEC Coach of the Year awards. Athletics department revenues almost tripled during his tenure as well, rising from approximately $18 million when he first came to South Carolina, to $52.8 million for fiscal year 2004.
“Mike was fortunate enough to have had some pretty notable personal accolades when he was playing football collegiately and professionally, but the relationships he developed with fellow players and with his coaches were the most meaningful,” Ginger McCree said. “So, when he became an athletic administrator, Mike was always acutely focused on providing for the student athlete and enabling the coaching staffs to be influential in their lives. This understanding of what coaches needed most was emboldened by Mike serving as a coach for many years.
“The enhancements to the athletic fields at Williams-Brice Stadium and baseball and certainly the building of the Colonial Center (now Colonial Life Arena); each was something that he knew would create an atmosphere for the alumni and fans to enjoy. Knowing that the student-athletes would get to be their best in those world-class venues made him immensely proud.”
“Life at the end was not about honors anymore – it was about relationships.”
– Ginger McGee
His efforts to elevate South Carolina did not go unnoticed. In 2002, he was presented the Order of the Palmetto for his outstanding contributions to the promotion and achievement of sports in the state, and in 2016 he was the recipient of the prestigious Homer Rice Award, given to an athletics director who had made a significant and meaningful contribution to intercollegiate athletics.
With revenue, facilities, and outstanding coaches to complement the student-athletes, the Gamecocks emerged as a highly competitive athletics program, across the board, with consistent top 20 national rankings for a majority of its 20 varsity teams. A record 17 teams competed in post-season competition in 2001-02, with 16 teams qualifying in 2002-03 and 15 teams advancing in 2003-04. South Carolina posted its best-ever finish in the Learfield IMG College Director’s Cup in 2002 with an 11th place finish and followed it up with an 18th-place finish in 2003.
The football team won three straight bowl games, including back-to-back Outback Bowl Championships against Ohio State. Those two victories earned the Gamecocks consecutive Top 20 national finishes, a first in the history of the program.
McGee came to South Carolina in 1993 from the University of Southern California, where he had served as athletics director 10 years and had promoted Barbara Hedges to be the first woman as a Senior Athletic administrator overseeing men’s programs. She later became the first ever female Athletic Director of a Power-5 school (Washington). He had also founded the Sports Management Institute, a program for sport administrators who desire to be leaders in the field, which was started in 1989 and continues today.
After his athletics career was over, McGee found another way to make a difference.
“In the fourth quarter of his life, he developed a deep relationship with Jesus, and it transformed him from a competitor to a servant of others,” Ginger McGee said. “In Colorado after retirement, Mike got involved with Charis, a prison ministry in Delta, Colorado. His coaching up of inmates, especially the ones who were especially big and tough, fostered deep connections and they flocked to him. Life at the end was not about honors anymore – it was about relationships.”
The son of a Coast Guard officer, McGee was known to have had the utmost respect for those in the military and two of his sons, a daughter-in-law and a son-in-law served as officers in the United States Air Force. After retiring from intercollegiate athletics, Mike and Ginger raised quarter horses on their ranch in Colorado. Ginger, and one son, Matthew and his family currently live in Montrose, Colorado.
It is bittersweet that McGee will be inducted into the South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame after his death, but it will be celebrated by many members of his family.
“Our daughter, Kathy and her husband, Tom McClain and their sons, Kyle and Luke; our son, Jerry and his wife Alana and son, Charlie; our granddaughter, Alex and her husband, Kyle Caparole and their four sons, Wyatt, Jonah, Gunner, and Ranger; and Mike’s niece, Michele Wolfert and her husband, Mike, are attending the induction events,” Ginger McGee said.
McGee and the rest of the 2021 Hall of Fame class will be inducted on October 14 and will also be recognized at the football game on October 16 when the Gamecocks host Vanderbilt.
