As longtime friends, South Carolina head baseball coach Paul Mainieri shared he was “shocked” by the news of Ray Tanner stepping down from his duties as athletics director.

In his first time speaking to the media since the news broke a few weeks ago, Mainieri shared his thoughts on the situation.

“Well, I can’t lie, I was pretty shocked when it happened,” Mainieri said. “Ray and I are such good friends. Sometimes he’ll confide in me about some things before anybody else knows about it.”

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In his final months as athletics director, Tanner was responsible for hiring four new head coaches, including Mainieri. Tanner, who was the Gamecocks’ head baseball coach from 1997-2012, has been in his AD role for 11 years.

“I could see it in his face that he was getting pretty worn down by the job,” Mainieri said. “Even at the time when he hired me, he had to hire four coaches I think in a week. I’m sure there was a lot of stress and tension during that time and just the job itself. An athletic director’s job is such a thankless job, it’s so easy to face criticism.”

Looking at it as a friend rather than colleague, Mainieri is happy for Tanner and what he has been able to accomplish. However, he didn’t fully expect to hear this news so soon into his time at South Carolina.

“I did not anticipate that he would retire four months into my tenure here, that’s for sure,” Mainieri said. “But when speaking to Ray about it, I’m happy for him because this is what he wanted to do. I’m happy he got a chance to do that, but he’ll still be around.”

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With more free time on his hands, Tanner will be able to spend more time at Founders Park alongside his friend.

“That’s what he keeps telling me. He’s like, ‘I’m going to have more time to spend with you now,’” Mainieri said. “I’m looking forward to spending time with him, obviously, he’s not going to be my boss in this role.”

Since Tanner’s announcement on Sept. 13, South Carolina has yet to hire a new athletics director. Tanner will move to a role as Senior Advisor to the President once a new athletics director is brought in.

Until then, Mainieri said he will be “very anxious” to see who takes over after Tanner. Even in the aftermath of the news, the first-year head coach reaffirmed he is “committed to being here.”

“I love what I’m doing. I love working with the players. I love working with my staff,” Mainieri said. “These young men that have been entrusted to me in our program, they deserve my best and all of our coaches best, regardless of who the athletic director is. So that’s what my focus is going to be. But I’ll be very anxious to see who the new person is. There’s no question about that.”

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