COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Eyes red and voice cracking, South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner discussed a surprising search for a successor to baseball coach Chad Holbrook.
Holbrook spent nine seasons with the Gamecocks, the first four as then-coach Tanner's right-hand assistant, who helped the Gamecocks to three straight College World Series trips, winning national titles in 2010 and 2011. When Tanner was promoted to AD in 2012, he promoted Holbrook to the top job three days later in perhaps the easiest decision of his athletic administration career.
"It is difficult -- I'm not going to pretend that it's not," Tanner said Wednesday, the day after Holbrook resigned.