Tennessee to restore visibility of Lady Vols brand
KNOXVILLE — John Currie listened, listened and listened some more.
Since before he officially started as Tennessee’s athletic director on April 1, Currie has heard the range of perspectives on the controversial 2014 decision made under his predecessor that largely phased out the use of the name “Lady Vols” in Tennessee women’s athletics.
Finally, on Thursday, Currie spoke.
“We will not allow for the Lady Vol brand to disappear from our athletics department or university,” he said.
With university chancellor Beverley Davenport on his right, a statue of Pat Summitt outside the window to his left and former Tennessee women’s athletic director Joan Cronan in the audience before him, Currie announced a new commitment to the iconic Lady Vols brand in women’s
sports at Tennessee.
Currie did not mandate that Tennessee’s women’s teams fully revert to being Lady Volunteers. But he said that all women’s teams again will have apparel options featuring the Lady Vols logo and color scheme beginning in the 201819 school year.
He also emphasized that coaches and media relations personnel will be free to refer to the university’s women’s athletics programs as the Lady Vols or Vols interchangeably.
“By committing to restore the visibility of the Lady Vol brand, and showing it the reverence it deserves, our Tennessee family can move forward, more united, to blaze new trails of excellence,” Currie said.
Tennessee softball co-head coach Karen Weekly posted on Twitter soon after the announcement, quoting Currie and adding, “It’s a great day in Big Orange Country.”
Under previous athletic director Dave Hart, Tennessee announced a “branding restructure” in November 2014 that turned all the “Lady Volunteers” sports teams, except basketball, into “Volunteers.” The move took effect with the 2015-16 academic year and coincided with the university’s transition from Adidas to Nike as its apparel provider.
The athletic department marketed the decision under a “One Tennessee” premise, but it angered many who valued the tradition of the Lady Vols nickname, logo, signature baby blue color and legacy of success.
Currie opened an email portal called “Hey John” as a direct line of communication between himself and fans soon after he took over for Hart earlier this year. The Times Free Press reviewed the first week of “Hey John” emails through a public records request in May. Most of them centered on the Lady Vols branding issue.
“The Lady Vol name is an important tradition for followers of all women’s sports at UT,” one fan wrote to John Currie earlier this year. “Its abrupt removal, without good reason, has been a great disappointment to thousands of fans. We would be forever grateful if you would bring it back.”
Asked frequently during the past several months about the matter, Currie said repeatedly that he was listening to viewpoints from all sides.
“When you have a lot of different people with a lot of different perspectives, you have to be deliberate about making sure you’ve heard folks and been thoughtful,” Currie told the Times Free Press in May. “We’re going to continue with that process.”
Currie made the most of his long-awaited address of the topic, invoking the legacies of Summitt, Cronan and other famous Lady Vols into his remarks.
“In a lot of ways, the opening comments that I gave I’ve been writing in my head the last four or five months to try and figure out the right way to say and address what we felt in our hearts,” he said a few minutes after stepping off the podium. “But it really is a complex issue.”
Thursday’s announcement appears to bring an end to a saga that prompted petitions and even legislative action in the Tennessee General Assembly seeking a reversal to the earlier decision.
“The distraction, the anxiety about this issue, a lot of it is external to the building,” Currie said. “But it does affect our student-athletes and our coaches. I believe the great thing about today is that we can move forward.
“We can cheer for the Vols; we can cheer for the Lady Vols; we can cheer for the Power T; we can cheer for Tennessee.”
“... our Tennessee family can move forward, more united, to blaze new trails of excellence.”
– TENNESSEE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR JOHN CURRIE