Donald Ray Tanner Jr. is an American college athletics administrator and former baseball coach who is the athletic director at the University of South Carolina, a position he took on July 13, 2012, after 16 seasons as head coach of the university's baseball program.
Clint Mathis is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward or midfielder. He appeared at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, scoring one goal. He also played in Major League Soccer for the MetroStars, where he scored five goals during a game in August 2000, a league record.
Dawn Michelle Staley is an American basketball Hall of Fame player and coach, who is currently the head coach for the South Carolina Gamecocks. Staley won three Olympic gold medals with Team USA as a player and later was head coach of another U.S. gold-medal winning team. Staley was elected to carry the United States flag at the opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics. After playing point guard for the University of Virginia under Debbie Ryan, and winning the gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics, she went on to play professionally in the American Basketball League and the WNBA. In 2011, fans named Staley one of the Top 15 players in WNBA history. Staley was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012. She was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.
The South Carolina Gamecocks represent the University of South Carolina in the NCAA Division I.
The South Alabama Jaguars represent the University of South Alabama in NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletics. USA competes in the Sun Belt Conference; it is the conference's only remaining charter member from its inception. USA's athletics teams are nicknamed the Jaguars. Popular sports are baseball and men's basketball. USA sponsors 8 men's sports teams and 9 women's sports teams. The board of trustees voted to start a football program that began play in the fall of 2009.
The East Carolina Pirates are the athletic teams that represent East Carolina University (ECU), located in Greenville, North Carolina. All varsity-level sports teams participate at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the American Athletic Conference. The school became an NCAA member in 1961.
Warren Lipka is an American retired soccer goalkeeper who formerly coached the University of Kentucky and Morehead State University women's soccer teams.
Charles (Charlie) Arndt is a retired U.S. soccer goalkeeper who was the 1988 ISAA Goalkeeper of the Year. He spent two seasons in the American Professional Soccer League and is currently the Furman University goalkeeper coach.
The UCF Knights are the athletic teams that represent the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. The Knights participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I as a member of the American Athletic Conference. UCF was invited to join the Big 12 Conference on September 10, 2021, and accepted the invitation later that day. The American Athletic Conference announced on June 10, 2022 that UCF had been approved for an early exit of the conference following the 2022-23 season, permitting them to enter the Big 12 Conference for the 2023-24 season. Since men's soccer is not sponsored by the Big 12, they will play in the Sun Belt Conference beginning in 2023.
The South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball team represents the University of South Carolina and competes in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Gamecocks won Southern Conference titles in 1927, 1933, 1934, and 1945, and then they gained national attention under hall of fame coach Frank McGuire, posting a 205–65 record from 1967 to 1976, which included the 1970 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championship, the 1971 ACC Tournament title, and four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances from 1971 to 1974. The program also won the 1997 SEC championship, National Invitation Tournament (NIT) titles in 2005 and 2006, and a share of the 2009 SEC Eastern division title. Most recently, the Gamecocks won the 2017 NCAA East Regional Championship, reaching the Final Four for the first time in school history. Lamont Paris is the current head coach, and the team plays at the 18,000-seat Colonial Life Arena.
The South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team represents the University of South Carolina and competes in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Under current head coach Dawn Staley, the Gamecocks have been one of the top programs in the country, winning the NCAA Championship in 2017 and 2022. The program also enjoyed success under head coach Nancy Wilson during the 1980s in the Metro Conference, when it won five regular season conference championships and three conference tournament championships.
Mark Berson is an American retired soccer coach. He spent 43 seasons as head men's soccer coach at the University of South Carolina. He started his coaching career at The Citadel in 1976.
The South Carolina Gamecocks women's soccer team represents the University of South Carolina and competes in the Southeastern Conference. The team was formed in 1995 and plays its home games at Stone Stadium. Shelley Smith is the current head coach of the women's soccer team, with her husband, Jamie, serving as associate head coach. The Gamecocks have played in 14 NCAA Tournaments, posting 10 Round of 32 appearances, six Round of 16 appearances, five Quarterfinal appearances, and a College Cup berth in 2017.
The Elon Phoenix is the official mascot of Elon University, located in Elon, North Carolina. It is the name that each of the sports teams at the university are referred to. The university is a member of the Colonial Athletic Association and competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision, fielding 17 varsity teams in 11 sports.
The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers are the athletic teams that represent Coastal Carolina University. They participate in Division I of the NCAA as a member of the Sun Belt Conference in most sports, having joined that conference as a full but non-football member on July 1, 2016. At that time, the football team began a transition from the second-level Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) to the top-level Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The team played the 2016 season as an FCS independent, joined Sun Belt football for the 2017 season, and became full FBS members for 2018 and beyond. A Chanticleer is a proud and fierce rooster. Prior to joining the Sun Belt, the Chanticleers had been members of the Big South Conference since that league's formation in 1983. Coastal fields varsity teams in 19 sports, 8 for men and 11 for women. The university regularly competed for the Sasser Cup, the Big South's trophy for the university with the best sports program among the member institutions, winning the trophy nine times, tied with rival Liberty University.
The 2015–16 South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball team represented the University of South Carolina during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team's head coach was Frank Martin who was in his fourth season at South Carolina. The team played their home games at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina as a member of the Southeastern Conference. They finished the season 25–9, 11–7 in SEC play to finish in a three-way tie for third place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament to Georgia. They were invited to the National Invitation Tournament where they defeated High Point in the first round to advance to the second round where they lost to Georgia Tech.
The South Carolina Gamecocks men's golf team represents the University of South Carolina and competes in the Southeastern Conference in Division I of the NCAA. Major team victories include the 1964 ACC Championship, the 1991 Metro Conference Championship, and the 2007 NCAA West Regional Championship. The Gamecocks also had runner-up finishes in the 1968 ACC Championship; the 1984, 1986, 1988, 1989, and 1990 Metro Conference Championships; and the 1998, 2008, 2013, and 2015 SEC Championships. Under the guidance of head coach Bill McDonald, the South Carolina men's golf program has won or shared 21 tournament titles and made seven NCAA championship appearances. Last season the Gamecocks finished ninth at the NCAA Championship and matched the school record of nine top-five finishes in 12 events, including three tournament wins.
The 2016–17 South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball team represented the University of South Carolina during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team's head coach, Frank Martin, was in his fifth season at South Carolina. The team played its home games at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina as a member of the Southeastern Conference. They finished the season 26–11, 12–6 in SEC play to finish in a tie for third place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament to Alabama. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament where they defeated Marquette, Duke, Baylor and SEC member Florida to advance to their first final four in school history where they lost to Gonzaga. 26 wins is the most wins in school history.
The SEC Derby is the set of matches between the Kentucky Wildcats (UK) and South Carolina Gamecocks men's soccer programs, respectively representing the University of Kentucky and University of South Carolina. Since the 2022 season, it has been a conference matchup in the Sun Belt Conference (SBC). Both programs had been single-sport members of Conference USA (C-USA) from 2005 through the 2021 season. Both teams are the only colleges in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) which sponsor men's soccer, which the conference does not sponsor as an indirect consequence of Title IX restrictions. South Carolina had started its program in 1978 while an independent, and UK started its program in 1991. From 1991 to 2004, UK had been a Mid-American Conference (MAC) member for men's soccer only. Despite having joined the Metro Conference in 1983, South Carolina continued to play men's soccer as an independent, not joining for that sport until 1993, two years after the rest of its athletic program had joined the SEC. The Gamecocks also played in the Metro in that league's final men's soccer season of 1994. The following year, C-USA was created with the merger of the Metro with the Great Midwest Conference, a league that had been formed in 1991 by a group of schools that included three charter Metro members. South Carolina was not invited to remain as a men's soccer member after the merger.
The 2021 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 63rd season of NCAA championship men's college soccer. After the 2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 season partially returned to normal. However, despite the development of several vaccines, the pandemic was still ongoing, which might have led to various local or regional disruptions. Also, many conferences did not fully return to their pre-COVID state, with several having changed postseason tournament formats.
