Just a quick note about the short, troubled reign of AD John Currie:
I’m sorry it ended so quickly, and badly. Currie will always be remembered fondly by the Lady Vol faithful for having restored the Lady Vol name to all Tennessee women’s teams. We may note, also, that as the news of his dismissal spread, nobody was calling for the rehiring of Dave Hart.
I don’t follow Tennessee football, don’t care anything about it. I don’t follow football anywhere, on any level, and haven’t for a few years now. Not because football players in the NFL are taking a knee in protest during the national anthem…that, I support as their rights as Americans. Still not going to start following football again, though. Just taking the true American, true patriotic side of the debate.
But I know football drives the machine. If you’re going to be a successful AD, you have to keep the football fans happy. The rest of us are along for the ride. The firing of Butch Jones was not the issue -I think every AD in the country would have been forced to blame Butch for the disappointing season and fired him either during, or at the end, of this past season- but the search for his replacement didn’t play out at all the way a major university wants to present itself, with the first choice rejected by the fans (for the unproven but troubling allegation that he was aware of Jerry Sandusky’s child molesting while on the staff at Penn State and did nothing) and at least three other choices publicly turning Tennessee down for the head coaching job. Tennessee sees itself as a football power, and football powers don’t have to offer a head coaching job to four candidates without getting a coach, at least not in full view of the alumni. I don’t know why this search was so public; I suspect somebody in the AD’s office, no friend of the AD, was leaking. Still, it was too embarrassing to allow; somebody had to take the fall.
Sorry, Mr. Currie. My wife and I spoke with you briefly at a softball game, where she, like so many others, lobbied you for the Lady Vol name change, which you graciously endured though, at the time, refused to commit to. We also noted your appearance at several other Lady Vol games, far more visible than Mr. Hart ever was. Good luck in your next endeavor, which I expect will be as an AD again elsewhere, perhaps at a university less stuck on itself.
Hoops and Diamonds 