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| As TCU Athletics Director, Jeremiah Donati (back, without hat) parted ways with longtime TCU head football coach Gary Patterson (front, in visor) during the 2021 season. This game, at Kansas State, was Patterson's last with TCU. -- Photo by Tom C. "Midnite" Burke |
TCU Athletics Director Jeremiah Donati is leaving Cowtown to become athletics director at the University of South Carolina.
Reportedly, South Carolina's Board of Trustees will meet on Thursday, December 5, to make Donati’s hiring official.
Donati has been athletics director at TCU since December 2017 and at the university since 2011, when he worked alongside then-athletics director Chris Del Conte, who left TCU for the athletics director position at the University of Texas.
Before coming to TCU, Donati was with Leigh Steinberg Sports and
Entertainment as general counsel and director of player representation.
He also has worked at college fundraising positions at Arizona,
Washington State and Cal Poly.
The timing of the announcement about Donati and the fact that his new employer is South Carolina are an interesting coincidence.
TCU's women's basketball team, which this week just achieved its highest national ranking in program history, at No. 9, plays third-ranked and defending national champion South Carolina at Dickies Arena on Sunday, December 8, at 6 pm (Central). ESPN2 is televising the game.
At South Carolina, Donati will take over for Ray Tanner, who served as the Gamecocks’ athletic director since 2013 but announced in September that he was stepping down as AD and transitioning into a new role at the university.
Reportedly, Donati was making $1.33 million at TCU, which is below Tanner's reported salary of $1.175 million.
South Carolina is a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
South Carolina's football coach is 47-year-old Shane Beamer, who is the son of former Virginia Tech head football coach Frank Beamer. Shane was hired by South Carolina in December 2020. At South Carolina, Shane is 29-21 overall, 15-17 in the SEC. This season, the Gamecocks were 9-3 overall, 5-3 in the SEC.
In
January 2023, Shane signed a contract extension through the end of 2027, at an annual salary of $6.125 million, with an annual increase of at least $250,000. He is the highest-paid coach in school history.
The Gamecock's head basketball coach is Lamont Paris, who has been in his position since March 2022. Paris, who signed a five-year deal, became the first African-American to lead the Gamecocks' men's basketball program. The 2023-2024 season saw Paris named SEC Coach of the Year after leading the Gamecocks to a 13-5 conference record and 26-7 overall record ahead of the NCAA tournament.
Dawn Staley is South Carolina's head women's basketball coach. Staley became South Carolina's head coach in 2008. She has led South Carolina to eight SEC regular season championships, eight SEC tournament championships, eight Sweet Sixteens, five Final Fours, and three NCAA women's basketball national championships, including the school's first in 2017 and a perfect season in 2024.
South Carolina's head baseball coach is Paul Mainieri, who was hired in June 2024. Previously, Mainieri was LSU's head baseball coach for 15 years. Prior to LSU, he was Notre Dame's head baseball coach for 12 seasons.
This is the second time that South Carolina has lured an athletics director from TCU.
Eric Hyman left TCU to become South Carolina's athletics director in 2005. Hyman had served as TCU's athletics director since 1997.
News of Donati's departure comes days after it was announced that TCU Chancellor Victor Boschini will be retiring in June 2025.
After 22 years of leading TCU, Boschini will continue to work at TCU, teaching classes and serving on the university’s fundraising team.
Daniel Pullin, who was named TCU's president in 2023, will become the 11th chancellor in TCU's 151-year history.
TCU does not plan to hire a new president.
So, in the near future, TCU will have a new chancellor and a new athletics director.
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