This week, a few days after Ray Tanner and South Carolina officially parted ways with Will Muschamp, the university reached out and opted to hire a little bit of help with the coaching search.

It came out this week the Gamecocks hired Chad Chatlos of Ventura Partners to help with the coaching search this time around, and Wednesday Tanner explained what Chatlos’s role is with the Gamecocks.

“It’s a consultant part of a search firm that’s very beneficial in a research mode who can help tremendously in terms of logistics and contacts and prevents a lot of things from becoming public, too. It’s important we do that,” Tanner said on 107.5 FM.

“When you have the right people involved, there won’t be a lot of people that could be interested that might be otherwise because of the privacy issue. It’s very important.”

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Chatlos has experience in head coaching searches across the NFL, NBA, MLB and with multiple other schools in the NCAA.

He had a hand in bringing Lane Kiffen to Ole Miss, Greg Schiano to Rutgers and Nick Rolovich to Washington State during the last coaching carousel in 2019.

The Gamecocks are in the midst of vetting candidates, something Tanner said Chatlos—who he called a “consultant”—will help with.

Chatlos also will be able to provide some contacts in the industry to help facilitate conversations between potential candidates and South Carolina.

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Tanner has made it very clear the Gamecocks don’t have a university committee—he’s leading the search with the help from university president Bob Caslen—but Chatlos is there to help.

“I would clarify we don’t have a search committee in house. We do not have that, we will not have one of those,” Tanner said. “But I am working with a consultant for a lot of different reasons where you can do some vetting and they have contact where they can get information in a short period of time.”

Tanner mentioned on 107.5 the Gamecocks are looking at head coaching candidates with different levels of experience and they’re looking for who fits South Carolina the best.

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“There’s been some circumstances I’ve watched unfold around the country where the AD made what I would say is a safe hire with someone that’s more established, a little older with a track record. That doesn’t mean it’s the wrong person,” Tanner said. “There aren’t any limits on what we’re going to do going forward here.”

Tanner’s reiterated plenty in his press conference Monday and again Wednesday on 107.5 FM he wants to make a hire sooner rather than later with the Gamecocks eyeing sometime before the early signing period starts Dec. 16.

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