COLUMBIA — Athletic director Ray Tanner is leaving his position and assuming a new role at South Carolina, the school announced Friday.

Tanner, 66, was the baseball coach from 1997-2012 before being hired as the school's athletic director. Tanner will remain AD until a successor is in place.

"Tanner will then transition to become athletics director emeritus and senior advisor to the president, focusing on fundraising and community engagement," according to a school release.

A search for a new athletic director will begin at the end of the fall semester.

Tanner said that similarly to when he was nearing the end of his career as coach, he could tell it was time for a change.

"I knew it was getting close to time in this role," Tanner said in a conference call with reporters. "I have the great fortune to segue into a position in another role, I am ecstatic about that."

Tanner was asked about the timing of the announcement, especially given the huge weekend for South Carolina football, who is featured on ESPN's "College GameDay" for the game against LSU on Saturday.

"The thing that stands out for me is I am at a point where the timing is right for me, there's never going to be a perfect time, and we talked about that, but we also realize that when there are conversations that are happening, they soon become public," Tanner said. "We felt like it was better to go ahead and get it out, I was somewhat hesitant about (Friday) myself because we have a lot going on but again there is never a perfect time ... there's no particular reason other than I've always said if more than one person knows something that's not a secret and the conversations were occurring that there would be a transition in place at some point so we felt like (Friday) would be a good day to share it."

Tanner said he will not be directly involved in the search but will provide background if necessary.

South Carolina president Michael Amiridis said Friday typically the school doesn't have people "defining their successor."

Tanner was in Washington on Tuesday with coach Dawn Staley and the women's basketball team to celebrate the 2024 national title. With Tanner as baseball coach, the Gamecocks won back-to-back College World Series titles in 2010 and 2011.

“I loved my experience as a baseball coach and as an administrator. I'm grateful to have been able to work here for such a long time,” Tanner said. “I married a Gamecock and my three children grew up as Gamecocks. My time here is something I have never taken for granted.”

Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Ray Tanner is leaving as South Carolina AD, gets new position