Spurs & Feathers: South Carolina Athletics Earning Elite Status

Feb. 25, 2016 By Brian Hand, Spurs & Feathers

Ray Tanner was beaming.

And why not? On Thursday, Feb. 4, in Charlotte it was incredibly plain to see from everyone in attendance that the passion for Gamecock football was at a fever pitch.

“There is definitely a buzz here tonight,” Tanner said to me as I went by to shake his hand as I was leaving the Charlotte Gamecock Club Signing Day Recruiting Roundup at the Charlotte City Club.

There was a standing room only crowd at the second of two events centered around National Signing Day and the consensus top-30 class brought in by new head football coach Will Muschamp and his staff.

What the new Gamecock football staff was able to bring in to the fold in under two months on the job is incredibly impressive and the enthusiasm is warranted.

But at South Carolina the passion and the success is not just confined to football.

In fact, it always kind of makes me laugh when South Carolina is called a football school.

This is not to say that football is not important. It is. There is no doubt.

Under the watchful eye of Tanner as athletics director everyone can be assured though that all Gamecock sports have the resources and ability to find success in the SEC and nationally.

And it is safe to say that South Carolina is considered one of the top athletic programs in the country. Just look at the deal Tanner and South Carolina were able to procure with Under Armour.

Officially approved by the University Board of Trustees on Friday, Feb. 19, South Carolina has a new 10-year, $71.5 million deal with Under Armour that ranks as the seventh-most lucrative deal in the country and the second-most lucrative deal in the SEC.

The deal just further proves South Carolina athletics is considered elite nationally. Simply put, Tanner and South Carolina do not get that deal unless they are valued.

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