After moving on from Will Muschamp Sunday night, South Carolina is in the mindset of hiring a head coach “sooner than later,” athletic director Ray Tanner said Monday morning.

The Gamecocks began their search for the 35th head coach in program history Sunday night and would like to have a decision made sometime in early-to-mid December.

“Sooner than later is better,” he said, “however it’s important the proper vetting is done and we get the right person to move this program forward.”

The biggest reason for that is the early signing period, which begins Dec. 16 and goes through Dec. 18.

A head coach would likely need to be hired prior to that, Tanner said, so he can build his staff and talk with commitments and prospects in the 2021 class before NLIs are able to be inked.

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“In an ideal circumstance, prior to that would be what we pursue,” Tanner said. “We want to be in a hurry but we’re not rushing. It’s important the right person is in the spot. I would like to do that. I think it presents some opportunities on the recruiting trail and gives an opportunity for our commits to know what they’re dealing with moving forward. It’s a goal I hope will be realized.”

But now, what will that process look like? Ask Tanner and he’ll be the first to tell you he’ll be the leader of the search while taking input from others.

Tanner mentioned there will be no “formal committee” at the university level handling the search and he hasn’t hired a search firm yet but “there have been conversations” about potentially hiring one.

One major player in the search is university president Bob Caslen, who previously served at Army, had a hand in picking out Jeff Monken, the current head coach at West Point.

“I know at Army he was involved with the latest football coach. He has a tremendous acumen for football having been a former player and loves the game,” Tanner said. “He’s my direct report, so he will certainly be involved.”

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Tanner mentioned even with COVID going on wanting to do a lot of the interviews face to face but understands some of it will have to be done via Zoom.

The search just started Sunday night and Tanner mentioned the Gamecocks are still narrowing their list down, but they’ve already had third-party interest expressed.

“I’ve had some third party interest, as you would expect. I haven’t had dialogue with anyone. I wouldn’t do that. No one has tired to get to me directly,” Tanner said. “There certainly has been interest. This is a very, very good job. This is a situation where facility-wise, resource-wise it’s about as good as it gets across the country and in the SEC. there are great opportunities ahead.”