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Tennessee hires Kansas State's John Currie as athletic director
What a long, strange trip it’s been.
After months of twists and turns, the search for Tennessee’s next athletic director has come to an end. The school confirmed Tuesday that is has hired Kansas State’s John Currie to succeed Dave Hart, who announced his retirement last August.
Currie spent 10 years in the athletic department at Tennessee before landing the Kansas State job in 2009. Before his hire at KSU, he served as executive associate athletic director at Tennessee under Mike Hamilton. His first day on the job back in Knoxville will be April 1.
“We are extremely pleased to announce John as our new vice chancellor and director of athletics,” UT chancellor Beverly Davenport said. “This is truly an exciting day for the University of Tennessee and our athletics department. As I said when we began this process, we were looking for the best candidate, and we feel strongly that we have him in John Currie. John exemplifies all the qualities we were seeking in an athletics director. He is a man of high integrity, strong values, a progressive thinker, he fully understands the importance of being compliant in everything we do, and he is a leader who will put the well-being of our student-athletes above everything.”
Added Currie: “It is a very exciting time for my family and me as we return to a place that remains very special to us. We spent 10 years in Knoxville prior to taking the job at K-State, and I appreciate Chancellor Davenport and the University of Tennessee for providing us this special opportunity. As a graduate of the University of Tennessee, I know how much UT athletics means to the people in the state, and I look forward to serving all of the Big Orange Nation, its wonderful coaches, staff and student-athletes, for many years to come. We are excited to return to Rocky Top.”
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Currie was chosen over a varied list of candidates that reportedly included Tennessee-Chattanooga AD David Blackburn and longtime Vols’ football coach Phillip Fulmer. According to VolQuest.com, a few other sitting ADs were involved in the search as recently as this week:
On Friday, North Carolina Athletics Director Bubba Cunningham emerged as the hot name in the search. Sunday evening, Cunningham pulled his name out of contention.
This week, it was expected that the search committee would interview three candidates with Cincinnati’s Mike Bohn, former Carolina Panthers President Danny Morrison, and Hall of Fame coach Phillip Fulmer as the three finalists. Sources say that Fulmer spoke with some of the committee members over the weekend but it’s unclear if that was a formal interview.
However, in a surprise move Monday, talks heated up with Currie about a deal and that is the direction Tennessee has went.
At Kansas State, Currie helped lead the charge for a brand new football complex and also led other facilities upgrades across the athletic department, including in basketball, tennis and soccer. Fundraising for athletics at KSU also reached new levels during Currie’s tenure.
“Fundraising has been completely overhauled with more than $200 million in cash contributions raised for athletics in seven years as the department has raised more money over that period than it had in the previous 48 years combined,” says the biography of Currie on KSU’s athletics website.
At Tennessee, Currie will be tasked with weighing the job performance of Butch Jones, whose teams have underperformed in the lackluster SEC East in recent years. The Vols have gone 9-4 in each of the last two seasons, but have failed to usurp Florida as division champion despite high expectations. In four seasons, Jones has a 30-21 record with a 14-18 mark in SEC play.
And whoever takes the reins from Currie at KSU will likely have to hire the successor to the legendary Bill Snyder. The 77-year-old Snyder plans to coach his 26th season as Wildcats’ football coach in 2017 despite a recent throat cancer diagnosis.
For more Tennessee news, visit VolQuest.com.
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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
