Ray Tanner explains what went wrong with South Carolina’s Title IX event gaffe

South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner said a “miscalculation of time” caused the problem with the Title IX ceremony that delayed part of Saturday’s home football game against Georgia.

USC honored all 275 of its female athletes on the Williams-Brice Stadium field between the first and second quarters during the football team’s 48-7 loss to No. 1 Georgia. The ceremony was part of the school’s ongoing celebration of the 50th anniversary of the passing of Title IX legislation.

But getting the athletes on and off the field during the break, which lasted three to four minutes, took longer than expected and caused the delay, Tanner said.

The incident gained attention nationally because ESPN cameras showed South Carolina coach Shane Beamer looking agitated and shouting “Get off the field!” while motioning toward the end zone where the student-athletes had just been honored. A social media post from a USC women’s soccer player weighing in on the whole ordeal also went viral.

“It was simply a miscalculation of the amount of time that we had between quarters,” Tanner said Monday during an interview on 107.5 FM’s “Halftime Show” with Jay Phillips, Terry Ford and Tommy Moody. “There’s certainly no fault on Coach Beamer’s part. It’s our fault as a department and marketing that we didn’t have enough time. We thought we did, but it didn’t work out for us. And that’s regrettable.

“I feel horrible about it and I know a lot of our young women were disappointed. I certainly understand that. I’m irritated with the whole situation that we missed. ... Our intention was to celebrate, not to have to be talking about that we ran out of time.”

Beamer apologized Sunday, saying he wasn’t clued in to what ceremony was taking place and intended no disrespect toward USC’s women’s sports athletes. Game officials told coaches to be ready to play as soon as TV timeouts were over, Beamer said.

The Gamecocks were lined up to snap the ball, but the game couldn’t restart until the field was clear. Beamer’s reaction that was caught on camera came in the heat of the moment with a crucial fourth-down play coming up for the Gamecocks, he said.

“My initial reaction was to yell, get off the field,” he told reporters Sunday. “I had no idea who was down there.”

Tanner said Beamer had no idea about “what we were doing” or the recognition that was happening. The USC athletic director added that Beamer has been more than supportive of women’s athletics and is a regular with his family at women’s sports games on campus.

The on-air Title IX moment gained larger attention Sunday when South Carolina women’s soccer player Jyllisa Harris posted a response to a Twitter post with the video of Beamer’s reaction.

“All female student athletes were asked to come to the game to recognize 50 years of Title IX,” Harris wrote. “We were on the field for maybe 15 seconds then screamed at to get off. If you want to honor female student athletes, then do that, not this.”

Harris’ tweet had more than 65,000 interactions as of Monday afternoon. The video of the scene had more than 2 million views. The incident and Beamer’s reaction led to backlash on social media.

Tanner was asked Monday about possible solutions or what could have been done differently, including holding the ceremony before the game or at halftime, when there is more time available.

USC honored its national champion women’s basketball team at halftime during the game Saturday.

“We want more people in the stadium than pre-game, so that is why we did it between quarters,” Tanner said. “If you do too many things during pre-game, a lot of people aren’t in the stadium yet. There has got to be a better opportunity to do that.

Tanner said the school will learn from the mistake: “It’s a miss. We can’t have things like this happen.”

USC will continue to have ceremonies honoring Title IX at various on-campus sporting events throughout the year, Tanner said.

“One of the things I have been most proud of since I have been most proud of during my time as athletic director is our commitment to women’s sports. We stand by that,” Tanner said. “We have had success and support to be able to do that. And when you miss, it is disappointing, and we did miss. ... It was unfortunate and the only thing we could do now is to do our best to continue forward with our plans to celebrate the 50th anniversary (of Title IX).”

— The State’s Ben Portnoy contributed to this story