What Ray Tanner said about the South Carolina men’s basketball program
March 27, 2019
South Carolina athletics director Ray Tanner on Wednesday made his monthly appearance on 107.5 The Game’s “Halftime Show” with hosts Jay Philips and Tommy Moody.
The majority of the interview was about Frank Martin and the noise surrounding the USC men’s basketball program. Here’s what Tanner said:
ON SOUTH CAROLINA (16-16 OVERALL) NOT MAKING THE NIT
“Coach Martin takes his team to Nashville (for the SEC Tournament). He’s got to play Auburn. We had beaten Auburn earlier and you’re hoping maybe you win a couple games and maybe you get in the (NCAA Tournament) conversation or if you win the whole thing, you get back to the postseason.
“I was certain — I was certain — we were gonna be in the NIT. I was certain. I did make a few calls just to try to hear some things I wanted to hear. And we didn’t get in. I feel like we should have been in.
“I know the teams that are in, some of them have lost already, I knew what their overall records were and just felt like we should have been in.”
USC went 11-7 and finished fourth in the SEC. Against Division I competition, it went 15-16 overall. Tanner said he asked specifically if there was a record requirement (i.e. .500 or better) to make the 32-team field.
“And they said, ‘Well, I’m not sure a team has ever been invited.’ I said, ‘Is that the criteria?’ ‘No.’ OK, well we finished fourth in the Southeastern Conference.
“There were a lot of teams that were well under .500 in their league and they got in, with a similar record — 15-16, 16-16. That’s where I got a little ruffled when it came to that. I was like, ‘Our team’s better than that. We would have been playing in New York (for the NIT semifinals).’”
Texas (16-16, 8-10 Big 12), Butler (16-16, 7-11 Big East), Arkansas (17-15, 8-10 SEC), Indiana (17-15, 8-12 Big 10) and Nebraska (18-16, 6-14 Big 10) made the NIT.
ON THE MARKETING OF THE MEN’S BASKETBALL PROGRAM
“It’s not just men’s basketball. It’s all of our sports. It’s important to us that we try to get people in the seats. Women’s softball has a game (Wednesday), it’s important that we get as many people there as possible.
“(South Carolina senior associate AD for marketing and branding) Eric Nichols does one heckuva job. He received a national award a couple years ago for his efforts in marketing. He’s one of the best in the business. We promote all of our sports and we spend a lot of time and effort in basketball. We’ve invested money into that, as well as we do with women’s basketball and football and the other sports.
“We don’t miss anything as far as the promotional aspect is concerned. We do everything we can to get people in the building. We have great fans that buy tickets. We’re not a school that’s selling 3 and 4,000 season tickets. We’re higher than that. As I said, we’re fourth in the league in attendance, which is pretty strong in the Southeastern Conference. Three of the last four years, we’ve finished in the top four (of the SEC standings), which includes when we played on the last weekend of the year in 2017. So a lot of good things have happened.
“But we certainly support our basketball program at a high level. “
ON THE NOTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA AS A ‘FOOTBALL SCHOOL’
“Basketball has certainly been important here for a long time. I hear that talk, too, but I’m not going to give you AD speak, but we’re broad-based. We want all our teams to do well, but I think you will see consistency among our sports if you delve into it. They’re not going to get the attention that football and basketball gets, but we do have success across all of our sports. ... I love our fans. I think we have great fans. I’ve been in that arena all year and there have been some really electric atmospheres. Are there games that you would like to see a few more people maybe in the area you pointed out, in the end zones? Absolutely. I’d love to see the place packed all the time.
“But we have good attendance. Should we sit on our laurels? No, we should continue to try and grow and create a home court environment (where it’s) hard to beat us.”
ON POSSIBLE SEATING RECONFIGURATION AT COLONIAL LIFE ARENA
“Obviously I don’t have our season ticket seating chart in my possession, but we sell 8,000-plus season tickets for men’s basketball all in the lower bowl area. All around the arena, you know that we have upgraded some seating. And just like you suggested, we would like that to be as full, especially in the lower bowl, as possible. We do have a big arena. A lot of of the new basketball facilities are 8,9,10-thousand and when you pack them in at our place, it’s 17 or 18,000, if you go in the upper deck. So we have the same concerns that we try to get an area that’s covered.
“Sometimes you do have openings in the end zone. And sometimes those are season tickets for people who are not at the game. We have the Forever Loyal program, where if someone’s not coming, you can pass your tickets on. And there was some success in that, but we’d like for it to increase a little bit next year. Those things can happen.
“But we were fourth in attendance in the SEC. We have a pretty big building and we were fourth in attendance. A lot of good things are happening. We’re not ashamed of our attendance.”
ON POSSIBILITY OF TARPING THE UPPER DECK
“There’s been some discussions. One day, Coach Martin and I were visiting. We had a discussion about possibly doing the lower bowl only, which is about 10,000 seats, which is what a lot of our schools in our conference have done. I don’t know if we’ll ever get there because there’s been a lot of games where we’re above 10,000. I think there were a number of times that Coach Martin’s exceeded 11,000. Coach (Dawn) Staley does that. So I don’t think we can really go there.
“But because you are so big, some of those games — especially mid-week games and early on where you don’t get as many people into the building into the right spots ... I’m not sure we don’t have enough people in the building, but I think you hit on the point that we need them more strategically located at times. And that’s something I want to take a look at. … I’m certainly going to take a look at that because that certainly is important. Our fans are great. We’re not in a position that a lot of schools are around the country with technology and a drop-off in attendance, a drop-off in season ticket holders. We’re in much better shape than a lot of universities. And I’m proud of that. I’m very grateful for our fan base.”
ON BASKETBALL FACILITIES
“Our student-athletes live at 650 (dorms), so our men’s and women’s basketball players literally walk across the street to the practice facility, where they have food served, it’s where our dietician and nutritionist are, it’s where our weight room is, it’s where our locker rooms are, it’s where their practice floors are. We got two full practice floors and two wings over there. Coach Martin and his staff have brand new offices, Coach Staley’s office was done last year over there.
“We spent almost 11 million dollars on the practice facility in the last three years. It includes the ribbon board and the scoreboard over at Colonial Life Arena. So we’ve upgraded those areas. They’re really, really nice. I think it has really enhanced the recruiting opportunity.”
Are further enhancements coming to the men’s basketball program?
“We’ve never stopped. We’re always going to do something, whether it’s a new opportunity for graphics or player opportunities, we’re going to continue to try to do as much as we can.”
March 27, 2019
South Carolina athletics director Ray Tanner on Wednesday made his monthly appearance on 107.5 The Game’s “Halftime Show” with hosts Jay Philips and Tommy Moody.
The majority of the interview was about Frank Martin and the noise surrounding the USC men’s basketball program. Here’s what Tanner said:
ON SOUTH CAROLINA (16-16 OVERALL) NOT MAKING THE NIT
“Coach Martin takes his team to Nashville (for the SEC Tournament). He’s got to play Auburn. We had beaten Auburn earlier and you’re hoping maybe you win a couple games and maybe you get in the (NCAA Tournament) conversation or if you win the whole thing, you get back to the postseason.
“I was certain — I was certain — we were gonna be in the NIT. I was certain. I did make a few calls just to try to hear some things I wanted to hear. And we didn’t get in. I feel like we should have been in.
“I know the teams that are in, some of them have lost already, I knew what their overall records were and just felt like we should have been in.”
USC went 11-7 and finished fourth in the SEC. Against Division I competition, it went 15-16 overall. Tanner said he asked specifically if there was a record requirement (i.e. .500 or better) to make the 32-team field.
“And they said, ‘Well, I’m not sure a team has ever been invited.’ I said, ‘Is that the criteria?’ ‘No.’ OK, well we finished fourth in the Southeastern Conference.
“There were a lot of teams that were well under .500 in their league and they got in, with a similar record — 15-16, 16-16. That’s where I got a little ruffled when it came to that. I was like, ‘Our team’s better than that. We would have been playing in New York (for the NIT semifinals).’”
Texas (16-16, 8-10 Big 12), Butler (16-16, 7-11 Big East), Arkansas (17-15, 8-10 SEC), Indiana (17-15, 8-12 Big 10) and Nebraska (18-16, 6-14 Big 10) made the NIT.
ON THE MARKETING OF THE MEN’S BASKETBALL PROGRAM
“It’s not just men’s basketball. It’s all of our sports. It’s important to us that we try to get people in the seats. Women’s softball has a game (Wednesday), it’s important that we get as many people there as possible.
“(South Carolina senior associate AD for marketing and branding) Eric Nichols does one heckuva job. He received a national award a couple years ago for his efforts in marketing. He’s one of the best in the business. We promote all of our sports and we spend a lot of time and effort in basketball. We’ve invested money into that, as well as we do with women’s basketball and football and the other sports.
“We don’t miss anything as far as the promotional aspect is concerned. We do everything we can to get people in the building. We have great fans that buy tickets. We’re not a school that’s selling 3 and 4,000 season tickets. We’re higher than that. As I said, we’re fourth in the league in attendance, which is pretty strong in the Southeastern Conference. Three of the last four years, we’ve finished in the top four (of the SEC standings), which includes when we played on the last weekend of the year in 2017. So a lot of good things have happened.
“But we certainly support our basketball program at a high level. “
ON THE NOTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA AS A ‘FOOTBALL SCHOOL’
“Basketball has certainly been important here for a long time. I hear that talk, too, but I’m not going to give you AD speak, but we’re broad-based. We want all our teams to do well, but I think you will see consistency among our sports if you delve into it. They’re not going to get the attention that football and basketball gets, but we do have success across all of our sports. ... I love our fans. I think we have great fans. I’ve been in that arena all year and there have been some really electric atmospheres. Are there games that you would like to see a few more people maybe in the area you pointed out, in the end zones? Absolutely. I’d love to see the place packed all the time.
“But we have good attendance. Should we sit on our laurels? No, we should continue to try and grow and create a home court environment (where it’s) hard to beat us.”
ON POSSIBLE SEATING RECONFIGURATION AT COLONIAL LIFE ARENA
“Obviously I don’t have our season ticket seating chart in my possession, but we sell 8,000-plus season tickets for men’s basketball all in the lower bowl area. All around the arena, you know that we have upgraded some seating. And just like you suggested, we would like that to be as full, especially in the lower bowl, as possible. We do have a big arena. A lot of of the new basketball facilities are 8,9,10-thousand and when you pack them in at our place, it’s 17 or 18,000, if you go in the upper deck. So we have the same concerns that we try to get an area that’s covered.
“Sometimes you do have openings in the end zone. And sometimes those are season tickets for people who are not at the game. We have the Forever Loyal program, where if someone’s not coming, you can pass your tickets on. And there was some success in that, but we’d like for it to increase a little bit next year. Those things can happen.
“But we were fourth in attendance in the SEC. We have a pretty big building and we were fourth in attendance. A lot of good things are happening. We’re not ashamed of our attendance.”
ON POSSIBILITY OF TARPING THE UPPER DECK
“There’s been some discussions. One day, Coach Martin and I were visiting. We had a discussion about possibly doing the lower bowl only, which is about 10,000 seats, which is what a lot of our schools in our conference have done. I don’t know if we’ll ever get there because there’s been a lot of games where we’re above 10,000. I think there were a number of times that Coach Martin’s exceeded 11,000. Coach (Dawn) Staley does that. So I don’t think we can really go there.
“But because you are so big, some of those games — especially mid-week games and early on where you don’t get as many people into the building into the right spots ... I’m not sure we don’t have enough people in the building, but I think you hit on the point that we need them more strategically located at times. And that’s something I want to take a look at. … I’m certainly going to take a look at that because that certainly is important. Our fans are great. We’re not in a position that a lot of schools are around the country with technology and a drop-off in attendance, a drop-off in season ticket holders. We’re in much better shape than a lot of universities. And I’m proud of that. I’m very grateful for our fan base.”
ON BASKETBALL FACILITIES
“Our student-athletes live at 650 (dorms), so our men’s and women’s basketball players literally walk across the street to the practice facility, where they have food served, it’s where our dietician and nutritionist are, it’s where our weight room is, it’s where our locker rooms are, it’s where their practice floors are. We got two full practice floors and two wings over there. Coach Martin and his staff have brand new offices, Coach Staley’s office was done last year over there.
“We spent almost 11 million dollars on the practice facility in the last three years. It includes the ribbon board and the scoreboard over at Colonial Life Arena. So we’ve upgraded those areas. They’re really, really nice. I think it has really enhanced the recruiting opportunity.”
Are further enhancements coming to the men’s basketball program?
“We’ve never stopped. We’re always going to do something, whether it’s a new opportunity for graphics or player opportunities, we’re going to continue to try to do as much as we can.”
