Jeremiah Donati ready for challenge ahead as South Carolina's next athletics director
South Carolina officially has its new athletics director. Jeremiah Donati, who had previously served seven years as TCU’s AD, was approved by South Carolina’s Board of Trustees on Thursday.
Donati becomes the 31st athletics director in school history and takes over for Ray Tanner, who served in the role since 2012. With the board approving his six-year contract, he won’t officially begin work until the start of the new year. But he’s excited about the future in Columbia.
“I promise I am going to give you everything I have in this role. Everything. … This is the flagship institution in the great state of South Carolina,” Donati said in his introductory press conference.
“I have a ton of admiration and respect for the work that Ray has done in the athletics program that he has built here. I firmly believe I’m coming on board here at the perfect time. And we are extremely well positioned for future success. The challenge of course is building on this great foundation and achieving more and flying higher.”
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Donati will join the fold at a time where there has been a lot of success in Gamecock athletics. The football program has a chance to win 10 games for only the fifth time in program history in a bowl game later this month. Men’s and women’s basketball are coming off great seasons, with the women looking to defend their national championship. And baseball and softball will enter the 2025 season with brand-new coaching staffs leading the way.
Aware of this, he hopes to continue to build off and maintain these recent successes in athletics.
“I understand the standard is set very high here at USC,” he said. “Wearing the colors of garnet and black comes with big expectations across the board and everything we do and that is a great thing. I welcome those expectations. I want to dream with you about what’s possible here.”
When asked what sold him on coming to South Carolina, Donati said he wanted to go to a place that is going in the right direction. He believes that is going to continue to be the case joining the Gamecocks.
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“You can see pretty clearly this place is on a tremendous trajectory,” Donati said. “And so, it was easy to see that from a distance. But when you see the passion people have for this university, you want to be at a place where’s there’s big expectations, where there’s resources.”
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During Donati’s time as TCU’s AD, the Horned Frogs won eight team national championships and 11 conference titles in the Big 12. They also notably made the four-team College Football Playoff in 2022. In that same season, TCU reached the national championship game for the first time in program history.
He also knows there’s more to being an athletics director than just winning. It’s a big part of what he plans to bring to South Carolina. But there are four specific things he will prioritize in his time in Columbia.
“Number one, starts with academic success and achievement, making sure our student-athletes get their degrees from the University of South Carolina. Number two, we are going to deliver an unbelievable student-athlete experience for all of our Gamecocks,” Donati said. “Number three, there’s going to be an emphasis on driving revenue and identifying areas of growth and for development. And of course, four, we are going to compete at the very highest level for SEC and National Championships.”
