South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner sat down with The State’s Josh Kendall last week to discuss Steve Spurrier’s future with the Gamecocks after his recent admission that he planned on being in Columbia, S.C. for ‘two or three’ more years.

Here are a few key points from their conversation:

On the challenges of the unknown and life after Steve Spurrier?

When I took this job, the day that I became the director of athletics, I very quickly understood that there is a chance that I will probably be in charge of the football hire when coach Spurrier decides to leave. The great news: he’s still here. But I understood that from Day 1. I have to continue to do my due diligence in preparation for the future. If it’s five more years, I’ll be OK with that. I understand it.

Has Spurrier relayed his thought process to you when deciding on his future?

He plays it close to the vest, but I reach out to him a lot. I think it’s more my nature than his. I continually visit with him, and I have, not just about the future and whether he is coaching football or not but in general. We have had some real good conversations. After we lost to Clemson, by Sunday afternoon, he inspired me. He was ready to start bowl practice.

Your thoughts on the ‘coach-in-waiting’ title?

I don’t particularly like that. I can’t speak to this specifically, but the recruiting guidelines have changed with that title now. There are some limits in recruiting if you have a head coach-in-waiting. I am not a big fan of that. Some situations that I have seen in the past don’t always work out the best way. You never say never, but that’s not something that I think is a direction we need to go.

You can read Kendall’s full transcript of the exclusive interview here.