Puffs of white smoke are emerging in Columbia, and South Carolina is closing in on hiring a new Athletics Director.

According to a report first broke by Football Scoop's John Brice and later confirmed by multiple other sources, South Carolina will hire TCU Athletics Director Jeremiah Donati to take over for Ray Tanner.

Donati has been at TCU since 2011, where he helped earn the Horned Frogs secure a move to the Big 12, where his teams have won eight National Championships and 11 conference titles across all sports. Prior to TCU, Donati had stints at Arizona, Washington State and Cal Poly.

The move comes after Tanner announced in September he would be stepping away from his role as Athletics Director and transitioning into a new position within the university, starting a search which appears to be reaching its conclusion after three months.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

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