USC baseball coach Ray Tanner (c) talks with Columbia Rotary Club President Elect Jack Van Loan (l) and Dr. Sonny White, President of Midlands Technical College, at Monday's Columbia Rotary Club meeting. Photo and Story

By Mike Maddock

Mike@TheColumbiaStar.com

If it weren't for one very high profile coach named Spurrier, USC head baseball coach Ray Tanner may just be the big man on campus.

Tanner enters his eleventh year as the Gamecock's coach with the best conference record (130- 79) in the last seven years of any coach in the SEC. The conference had nine teams in post season last season and is arguably the best in the country every year. Tanner also has the eighth best winning percentage among all active college coaches. His Gamecocks have compiled an impressive list of accomplishments since 2000 including three consecutive trips to the College World Series from 2002- 2004. They were the national runner- up in 2002. The Gamecocks have been to seven NCAA regionals, six NCAA super regionals. They've won four SEC Eastern Division championships, two SEC championships, and one SEC tournament title under the leadership of Tanner.

As impressive as Tanner's resume is, he knows football is king at USC. As Tanner told members of the Columbia Rotary Club at their weekly Monday meeting, even his three- year- old daughter turned down a Gamecock baseball cap and asked for a Spurrier visor instead. But Tanner has carved out his own niche in Columbia and is one of the most respected and admired coaches in the country. His name routinely comes up for coaching vacancies at the end of every season.

While others seek his services regularly, Tanner seems content at USC whether he is the big man on campus or not and hopes "to do another ten years" at the helm of the Gamecocks. And why not? His recruiting classes are consistently ranked in the top ten nationally and this year pre- season polls have the Gamecocks ranked as high as third. As Tanner says, "I firmly believe that USC can get in position to win a national championship."

Tanner hopes another step in that direction is the proposed new baseball stadium. He makes three to four calls daily to insure its progress and has been told the Gamecocks will open play there February 2008. Tanner is cautiously optimistic, because soil borings were taken on the stadium site recently and existing buildings are scheduled to be demolished by the end of this month. However, the Gamecocks open this season with six games on the road. Why? Because Tanner was told contractors would be putting the finishing touches on this same stadium at the start of this season and his team would need to open the season elsewhere.

If completed by 2008, the new stadium will have "leg room" with 6,000 permanent seats, club level seats, suites, berm seating and a picnic area for a total capacity of around 10,000. There will be a plaza near centerfield, sidewalks around the stadium, and a victory tower which will be lit up after Gamecock victories in any sport. It will house locker rooms, weight rooms, and coaches' offices. Tanner firmly believes the stadium will be among the finest in the nation upon completion.

If a winning program and top- notch facilities aren't Tanner's legacy, then the Ray Tanner Foundation surely will be. Started by Tanner at the urging of his wife in 2005, the 501(c)(3) non- profit organization "provides support for adoptive families, those who care for seriously ill children, the homeless and other charitable causes" in the Midlands. The second annual Ray Tanner Foundation Benefit Dinner & Auction will be held January 28. Visit http://raytannerfoundation.org/ for more information. The organization has one bookkeeper but all other proceeds go directly to charitable causes in the Midlands.

Ray Tanner may not be the most recognizable name on the USC campus right now, but his accomplishments on and off the field will stand big in the hearts of Gamecock fans for many years to come.