April 14, 2010

Dear Gamecock Fans:

I hope all of you are taking advantage of the beautiful weather we’ve had recently here in Columbia and across the state of South Carolina and have had a chance to get out and support our spring sports teams. One of our goals as an athletics department is to have our teams ranked in the Top-25. Currently, we boast Top-25 ranked teams in baseball, women’s tennis, men’s golf and men’s and women’s outdoor track & field, so it should be an exciting end to the 2009-10 academic year.

This month has already seen several significant events in Carolina Athletics: Head baseball coach Ray Tanner reached another milestone in his outstanding career when he posted his 1,000th career victory with a 2-0 win at Vanderbilt on April 11. Coach Tanner has won nearly 70 percent of his games and became the fourth-fastest active coach to tally 1,000 Division I wins. He also recently logged his 600th win in a Gamecock uniform. He has the Gamecocks ranked in the nation’s Top-10 this season and sitting atop the SEC Standings. Our congratulations go to Coach Tanner for this achievement and we look forward to continued strong play that hopefully will translate into hosting our first postseason action at the new Carolina Stadium! Congratulations are also in order for men’s tennis coach Kent DeMars. Coach DeMars will be among the 10 inductees into the Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame on May 26, an honor that will cap a distinguished career that included nearly 600 wins over 37 seasons.

And finally, congratulations also go out to women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley. Coach Staley will join her college mentor, University of Virginia head coach Debbie Ryan, as co-head coaches of the 2010 USA Select Team. This appointment is Staley’s second as a head coach with USA Basketball. She previously headed up the 2007 USA Pan American Games team. What a tremendous opportunity this is for Coach Staley to not only coach some of the best players in the country, but also spread the word about South Carolina women’s basketball.

Our condolences go out to the family of Michael Mungo, longtime member of the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees. Mr. Mungo was a very astute member of our board and was extremely supportive of South Carolina Athletics. When we joined the SEC back in the early `90s, he made it a promise to get our facilities up to the level of our SEC brethren. Since I have been in Columbia, Mr. Mungo has been a strong proponent of our facility projects as he’s seen some of his vision finally come to fruition. He cared about the University and the people in this community. He was a good friend to South Carolina Athletics and will be missed.

Speaking of facilities, we are continuing to make steady progress in a number of areas. Thanks to your donations and the success of the YES program, we have been able to invest money back into improving our facilities. With the interest rates at historic lows, this has been an ideal time to continue to push forward with some of the facility upgrades we need.

The recruiting room at Williams-Brice Stadium is nearly complete and will give us another first-class touch point to recruit the “best and the brightest” to the University. With spring practice over, the football team has moved out of its current locker room area for the summer while further renovations to that area will begin to take place immediately. When it’s completed for the fall, our football entryway, locker room, recruiting room and training room will have that “wow” factor that recruits are looking for and will be as first-class as any of our competition. The Roost area near the Dodie Academic Center will continue to see plenty of construction activity this summer as well. Demolition to the area around Sarge Frye Field will take place beginning in June, with construction on the new parking garage and tennis complex slated to begin this summer.

The executive suites and 600-level at Williams-Brice Stadium and the McGuire Club Room at the Colonial Life Arena are also undergoing facelifts this summer and will be completed in time for the start of their respective seasons. Finally, the Farmers Market overhaul will begin following the 2010 football season. This premium tailgate parking area, which will somewhat resemble “The Grove” at Ole Miss, will be ready for the start of the 2011 football season.

I recently had the honor of presenting the South Carolina Football team with a signed football, autographed by President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, head coach Steve Spurrier and Florida head coach Urban Meyer, for its role in supporting the Wounded Warrior Project. The ramifications of this effort were felt throughout the nation. I personally received numerous emails from all over the country with people thanking the University and the football team for what they were doing in supporting our wounded troops.

And while we’re on the subject of supporting those less fortunate, many of our student-athletes, including those from volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s swimming & diving, recently took part in a “Gamecocks Giving Back” program. The initiative was organized by swimmer Trey Tharpe, the president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). The group spent a day working on a labor-intensive project in conjunction with the homeless ministries. I was proud to see our student-athletes take the lead on this service project and encourage our young people to give back to their community and to those less fortunate.

The Gamecock Club Spring Meetings tour is off and running again. We will be traveling all over the Palmetto State in the coming weeks and look forward to seeing good crowds at these events. These meetings are always a lot of fun and an opportunity for you to hear directly from some of our finest coaches, representing football and men’s and women’s basketball. We’ll take a look back at the 2009-10 season, look ahead to the 2010-11 campaign and give you an update on what’s new in Carolina Athletics.

Thanks again for your continued support of Gamecock Athletics.

Eric