South-Carolina
What Jeremiah Donati learned from his previous stops that led him to South Carolina
Flying into Columbia Wednesday night, Jeremiah Donati couldn’t help but notice just how vast the area is. Growing up in Pullman, WA, then working in Fort Worth, Texas, for the last 13 years, he could tell this place would be different.
In his first full day in the Soda City, Donati said he walked around the town and met 30 people, all of whom were wearing garnet and black. A few hours later, he stepped onto a stage at Williams-Brice Stadium, now donning a garnet and black tie with a Gamecock logo, immersing himself into his new surroundings.
Donati was introduced as South Carolina’s new athletics director on Thursday. He couldn’t help but share his excitement to have this opportunity to work at “the flagship institution in the great state of South Carolina,” as he put it.
“Wearing the colors garnet and black comes with big expectations across the board in everything we do and that is a great thing,” Donati said in his introductory press conference. “I welcome those expectations. I want to dream with you about what is possible here. Candidly, that is why I am here.”
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While he may be new to the Palmetto State, Donati brings valuable experience from previous stops in his career.
Donati worked for Leigh Steinberg Sports and Entertainment, which is one of the most successful sports and player representation agencies in the world. From 2007-11, he worked there as general counsel and director of player representation.
“We were dealing marketing deals before there was NIL. In fact, I always thought that it was interesting that the pros could do NIL deals, but the college students couldn’t,” he said. “When NIL started to become a concept, if you will, I was one of the first that was an advocate for it.”
Back then, he had no idea it would lead him to a path towards now being an athletics director at two different schools. But looking back on his time in sports agency, that experience was “invaluable” to him.
“At the time, I never would have imagined getting a law degree and working in a sports agency would prepare you so well for the post-Covid NIL world. But it did, hopefully and so here we are,” Donati said.
In 2011, he moved onto TCU as the executive director of TCU Frog Club, where he oversaw fundraising and helped the university record its three highest totals in overall athletics giving.
After working in two other roles in the school’s athletics department, Donati has been TCU’s athletics director since 2017. He oversaw record attendance numbers in multiple sports during the 2023-2024 academic year (including football), and TCU was one of just five programs nationally to win multiple national titles (rifle and men’s tennis).
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Since becoming the school’s AD, the Horned Frogs won eight team national championships and 11 conference titles in the Big 12. They also notably made the four-team College Football Playoff in 2022. In that same season, TCU reached the CFP national championship game for the first time in program history.
When Donati started out as the athletics director in Fort Worth, he was only 40 years old. This was also his first time in this role. He learned a lot from that first stint which he hopes to apply to this new journey at South Carolina.
“When I became athletics director, it wasn’t long after that that we had the (COVID-19) pandemic. So, I was two years into the role and we were trying to figure out what life was going to be like,” Donati said. “I think working in the sports agency probably prepared me a little bit for this job. I obviously had a tremendous amount of challenges along the way. Every athletics director does. You build on those things. You learn from those things and hopefully make you better.”
New details have emerged in an officer-involved shooting that left one dead and a deputy injured in Anderson County on Monday.
A deputy with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) initiated a traffic stop outside of Townville, SC, on I-85 Northbound near Mile Marker 11 for a traffic violation, according to a release from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED).
The deputy requested back-up and spoke to 32-year-old Austin Derrell Robertson, of Pennsylvania, in his patrol vehicle. Once the other deputy arrived, Robertson got out of the vehicle and “a physical altercation involving him and the two deputies” occured, according to SLED.
SC deputy critically injured after shooting during traffic stop, suspect killed
While deputies attempted to tase Robertson, officials said he grabbed a firearm from his vehicle and shot one of the deputies.
Both deputies then shot back at Roberston, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
SLED said the deputy was airlifted to the hospital and remains there for treatment at this time.
The incident remains under investigation by SLED, as requested by the ACSO.
NOTE: The above video is a livestream of WIS featuring current newscasts, Soda City Living and Gray Media’s Local News Live.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) – Former South Carolina Lt. Gov. André Bauer has been nominated for a position in foreign diplomacy.
The White House on Tuesday listed Bauer as a nominee to be the next U.S. Ambassador to Belize, a Central American country bordering Guatemala.
It’s unclear when a confirmation hearing will take place. WIS has reached out to the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee for more information.
Bauer was South Carolina’s lieutenant governor from 2003-2011, serving under then-Gov. Mark Sanford. Before that, he served terms in the South Carolina House of Representatives and the South Carolina Senate.
More recently, Bauer entered the race for U.S. Senate in July 2025, looking to unseat Sen. Lindsey Graham in the Republican primary. He ended his campaign the following month.
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CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Six Republican candidates vying to become South Carolina’s next governor met in downtown Charleston for a wide-ranging debate that put abortion, infrastructure and the future of data centers at the center of the race.
The forum was held at the Sottile Theatre, where Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, Lowcountry businessman Rom Reddy and Attorney General Alan Wilson took the stage.
Questions included whether they would support a state hate crime law, how they would address concerns about growth and infrastructure, how to navigate collaboration, abortion and the future of data centers in the state.
One issue that drew near-unanimous opposition was state Senate Bill 1095, a proposed total abortion ban that passed out of committee earlier in the day. All of the candidates opposed the bill, but they differed on what they would do if it reached the governor’s desk.
READ MORE | South Carolina governor candidates tout infrastructure, growth at business forum
Norman said he would sign it.
“You know, this is an emotional issue, but I will tell you if this bill came to my desk as governor. If it passed the House and the Senate, I would sign it,” Norman said.
All of the other candidates on stage said they would veto the bill if it came across their desk as governor, with Reddy arguing the question should be decided by voters.
“The Supreme Court did not say the loudest voice in the ruling class prevails. It said it’s up to the people in the state, so let’s put it to a referendum,” Reddy said.
On infrastructure, candidates discussed reforming the South Carolina Department of Transportation and allowing private-sector involvement to help pay for improvements.
Wilson outlined ideas that included leasing interstate easements and expanding private express lanes.
“We privatized that grass between the interstates. We turn it into private express lanes that can be told we leased the easements on the sides of interstates to telecommunication companies and energy companies, and charge them for natural gas line and fiber optic fiber optic cables,” Wilson said.
Evette also pointed to public-private partnerships and the possibility of fast-pass lanes.
READ MORE | South Carolina governor candidates tout infrastructure, growth at business forum
“We want to make sure that we’re innovative public private partnerships coming in and creating fast pass lanes to allow people that are in a hurry to be able to utilize that,” Evette said.
The final question focused on data centers, with candidates agreeing corporations should “pay their way.”
“They should pay for their water. They should pay for their infrastructure, any roads around it, and we should look at what Governor Ron DeSantis has done in Florida with the large data centers that are coming to Florida. That should be the model in South Carolina and everywhere,” Mace said.
Kimbrell said the state should set limits to protect natural resources and guard against higher power costs for residents.
“Put parameters around data centers to ensure that the water consumption does not impact places like the ACE Basin,” Kimbrell said. “Ensuring that the Public Service Commission makes absolutely sure nobody’s power rate goes up and we try to get behind the meter energy grids in place so they can be self-sufficient.”
Two more debates are planned ahead of the primaries on June 9.
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