New South Carolina athletic director addresses if TCU remains a ‘stepping stone’ school
He has been introduced as its new athletic director and, technically, Jeremiah Donati is not an employee of the University of South Carolina.
That will happen shortly after the first of the new year. This move is not what he expected when he was contacted about his interest in the opening in Columbia, S.C. in mid November. After the two sides talked, he thought it was a nice conversation that would lead nowhere.
The day after TCU defeated Cincinnati in the regular season finale on Nov. 30, Donati was informed he was the lead candidate. The turn led to a conversation with his spouse, and the two agreed if they were going to move their family, South Carolina was the right opportunity, and this is the right time.
It’s similar to the decision his predecessor, Chris Del Conte, made in 2017 when he was offered the job at the University of Texas. That decision created the spot for Donati.
Much like in 2017, and other exits, most notably former TCU baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle, it created a conversation that despite all of its progress and success, in the neighborhood of power athletics TCU remains far from a starter home, nor is it a final destination.
“The reason I am leaving has nothing to do with TCU,” Donati said in a phone interview on Thursday afternoon. “This decision is not about TCU. This is about an opportunity. It’s about a brand. A location. About a league. It’s a challenge I am ready for. It’s in a good place and I like the trajectory it’s on. This one just felt right. I have had other opportunities that were easy no’s. This wasn’t.”
Donati talked extensively with the University of Southern California about its available AD last year, but passed. He signed a five-year contract extension with TCU. To complete the hire, South Carolina had to pay a TCU a buyout.
Viewed from the International Space Station, TCU sits in the real estate development with the precious few schools that spend the money to participate in the top tier of major college athletics. According to the National Football Foundation, there are 772 colleges and universities that sponsor a football team in the United States.
Of that 772, there are approximately 55 or so that “matter” more than the others. TCU is in that development. It’s just around the corner from SEC Street, and Big 10 Boulevard.
That is why Schlossnagle, Del Conte and now Donati left. No other reason. All of them thrived, and loved, the job they had while at TCU. They all felt the need to scratch the itch to see if they could do it on a different, and bigger, stage.
Regardless, it was one element that made former football coach Gary Patterson’s tenure special; he always recognized how good he had it at TCU. It was something he learned from former Kansas State football coach Bill Snyder, who remained in Manhattan, Kan. for decades despite opportunities to go elsewhere.
Patterson and Snyder were the outliers.
Some of them leave because they know if they don’t they will be fired; that they are on the edge of out-staying their welcome. Most of them who leave on their own can’t resist the urge to see for themselves if winning elsewhere is as satisfying, and fulfilling. It’s not just the money (OK, sometimes it is), but rather the drive to see if they can do it.
What most of them learn is, eventually, it’s all the same. Donati could remain in this profession for another 20 years, and he may never again hit the high of watching the TCU football team run out of the tunnel in Los Angeles to play for a national title.
This week, the University of Central Florida introduced Scott Frost as its new football coach. Frost coached there in 2016 and ‘17; he led the Golden Knights to a 13-0 record in 2017, and a “share” of the national title.
He then left for his alma mater, Nebraska. He never posted a winning record in four-plus years in Lincoln, and was fired by a place he loved, in 2022.
At his re-introductory press conference in Orlando this week, Frost told reporters, “When you’re climbing the ladder of success in life, sometimes they forget to tell you to stop when you’re happy.”
Who is supposed to tell you this? Would you listen if you heard it?
“If I could do this all over again, I would in a heart beat. It’s not lost on me that TCU took a flier on me. I was a younger AD with no experience as an AD when they gave me the job,” Donati said. “If I could have signed a lifetime contract that would guarantee my happiness at TCU, I would have done it. But that’s not the way it works.”
No, so now Donati will move a few streets over from TCU’s address, to reside on SEC Street.
This story was originally published December 15, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
