Gamecock Club Member Services Focus of Reorganization
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The University of South Carolina Athletics Department has reimagined its external operations, including the annual fund known as the Gamecock Club. The reorganization centers around a reset of priorities to enhance the service provided to all Gamecock Club members, to position Gamecock Athletics to benefit from increased philanthropic donations by having more fundraisers on staff than any school in the SEC, and to create synergies within all the revenue-generating functional areas of the Athletics Department.
“Our fans are the most passionate and dedicated in all of college sports,” said Athletics Director Ray Tanner. “Our Gamecock Club members deserve the highest level of service that matches their tremendous commitment to us. I believe these changes will do just that.”
The newly created Gamecock Club Retention Team will be the most noticeable part of the restructuring. Every Gamecock Club member will have a personal representative who can service not only their ticket and gameday needs, but also any other opportunities related to the Gamecocks that may arise. The full team is expected to be in place in mid-August with communication to Gamecock Club members going out soon after that. Chavis McDonald was promoted to Director of Gamecock Club Retention after spending several successful years as part of the outbound sales team.
The fundraising team will increase its staff to unprecedented levels at South Carolina and across the SEC, allowing the group to provide the resources needed to remain competitive nationally. The group will grow from its current level of three major gift officers to eight, which will include two unfilled positions and three new positions. Wayne Hiott, who has worked in the development office for more than 10 years, was promoted to Sr. Associate AD of Development and CEO of the Gamecock Club.
From a big-picture perspective, the reorganization will align the Gamecock Club with other revenue-generating functional areas such as outbound ticket sales, marketing and promotions, licensing and ticket and parking operations, all of which will now be overseen by Eric Nichols, who was promoted to Deputy Athletics Director.
For fans, uniting those groups means increased efficiencies through technology, which will create a better customer experience when communicating via phone calls, emails and web chats. The customer service team will have more consistent and thorough training as well as the ability to track issues leading to a confirmed resolution through the Salesforce CRM platform already used by other departments under Nichols.
