It’s a familiar question that just doesn’t have a defined answer. What’s South Carolina’s recruiting budget? The actual answer from athletics director Ray Tanner, is, basically, “Whatever you need.”

When it comes to recruiting, Tanner isn’t going to let his staff slide. Monies are going to be made available for recruiting, and the coaching staffs from each respective sport are tasked with being sure they’re on the road enough.

“Recruit, recruit, recruit,” Tanner said on Wednesday during an appearance on 107.5 The Game with Jay Philips and Tommy Moody. “We might not eat, but we’re going to recruit.”

Tanner used an example from just this week to illustrate his point. This is typically a big recruiting week for teams not playing in conference championship games, but the Gamecocks (6-5) are slated to take on Akron this weekend. The staff, however, wants to be on the road recruiting as well.

Head coach Will Muschamp went to Tanner and asked for three airplanes so the staff can get to and from quickly on their recruiting trips so they can practice and prepare for the game against the Zips. The university has two airplanes - one for the school and one for athletics - but Tanner came through with a third to be sure his football staff could adequately recruit as well as prepare for this Saturday’s game.

“Recruiting is a priority. It just is,” Tanner said. “You’re not going to get good coaches if there are any recruiting limitations, I can assure you.”

South Carolina has 21 varsity sports - with some of those filed under track and field - and Tanner says that it doesn’t matter the sport, the coaches are expected to be out on the recruiting trail. Funds and whatever is needed will be arranged by the athletics department for the coaches to be on the road.

“I don’t want to make the statement that there are no limits when it comes to finances in recruiting, but there are possibilities to make it happen,” Tanner said. “Even in the Olympic sports, we don’t hamper people from recruiting. You might make some decisions that are hard in other areas, but you have to recruit.”

Tanner, a national championship-winning coach, knows the importance of being on the road. Not only will he make the funds available, he’s also going to be sure that the coaching staffs are doing what they’re supposed to on the recruiting trail.

Tanner said that he’s not always going to look at how much money a coach and his staff are spending, but he’s going to be sure they’re on the road and making trips.

“I look at a recruiting log of our coaches,” Tanner said. “I don’t look at how much money they spent, I look at how many trips they make. It’s not how much you spend, it’s how much you recruit. Yeah, it cost money to recruit, but because you spend the most money, doesn’t mean you recruit the most. You could be more fiscally responsible, possibly. I look to see how many trips they’re making, how many times they’re going out and evaluating.”

There are several lists that are posted attempting to compare schools and how much is spent by each on recruiting. It’s a tall order, and difficult to make comparisons. Some schools report monies spent on certain things, while others do not. Other schools take more commercial flights, while some schools need to use more private planes.

“You can try to compare schools, but you’re never going to get apples to apples,” Tanner said. “We don’t have limits when it comes to recruiting. It doesn’t mean you just get to jump on a Learjet and go somewhere, but we figure out how to get you there.”

But Tanner says that they compare themselves as best as they can to other programs within the Southeastern Conference. He mentioned Texas A&M, LSU and Florida as schools that recruit at a high level and also as schools that also have a lot of money at their disposal, something that South Carolina doesn't necessarily have.

“We don’t spend any less money recruiting than they do, because (recruiting) is a priority,” Tanner said.

The coaches may not get to eat, but they’re going to recruit.