Tennessee welcomes ‘known commodity’
Currie brings Power 5 experience as AD
KNOXVILLE - Like a college coach going after a major recruit, chancellor Beverly Davenport made an in-home visit to lure a new athletic director to the University of Tennessee.
Davenport flew to Manhattan, Kansas on Tuesday morning to convince John Currie to return to Tennessee.
Currie picked Davenport up at the airport and pulled out a Power T glass when Davenport requested a drink of water.
After Currie’s mother gave Davenport a hug, they sat down at his kitchen table to discuss business. Davenport eventually made Currie an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“The chancellor pulled out that piece of a paper after a few hours and all I could think about was Maxim No. 2 - play for and make the breaks and when it comes your way score,” Currie said. “So I pulled out that pen and signed that paper real fast.”
In front of a crowd that included former UT quarterback great Peyton Manning, Currie was publicly introduced as Tennessee’s new athletic director on Thursday afternoon in a ceremony at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Davenport announced Currie’s hiring on Tuesday. Currie spent the last eight years at Kansas State. He replaces Dave Hart, who announced his retirement last August.
Currie begins working at UT on April 1, which will be his 46th birthday. Currie worked within the UT athletic administration in various capacities from 19972009 and received his master’s degree from UT in sports management.
Davenport did not provide Currie’s contract details, but said they would be publicly disclosed soon. Hart was making more than $800,000 in total compensation.
Currie had an annual salary of $775,000 at Kansas State in a contract that was extended last year by two years to run through 2022. Currie would have received an $100,000 retention incentive on June 30.
UT hired Turnkey Sports and Entertainment to conduct the search. Davenport did not disclose any other candidates the search firm or the search committee considered to “protect all the people in this process.”
Davenport wanted a sitting athletic director at a Power 5 conference school with a “stiff backbone.”
“These are complex jobs and experience matters. I wanted someone with unwavering integrity, commitment to compliance, a person with vision who understands how to manage and lead the entire enterprise,” Davenport said. “Someone who makes the success of the studentathlete a priority, someone who will be a partner in the entire university enterprise. And of course, someone who is committed to winning. It is the University of Tennessee.”
Once Currie was hired, Davenport said she received numerous calls and text messages on her way to the airport saying “Wow. You got the guy. He is a known commodity.”
“Everybody around the country has been talking about John Currie,” Davenport said. “I heard about John Currie before I even came to the University of Tennessee.”
Although largely lauded nationally by many within college sports, Currie’s hiring has been met with resistance among some UT fans who wanted former UT football coach Phillip Fulmer or UT graduate and Chattanooga AD David Blackburn to get the job.
Currie said his first priority to try and heal the divisiveness is getting out in public to listen to the fans, coaches, athletes and teachers at UT.
“Just look around the country. There are a bunch of college programs that they have this problem, that people don’t care,” Currie said. “I’ll take care any time alright. We can deal with care.”
Currie was asked about reinstating the Lady Vols nickname and logo for all women’s teams on campus instead of just women’s basketball. He said he hasn’t been on the job long enough to consider the issue.
Among the attendees at the ceremony were football coach Butch Jones, basketball coach Rick Barnes and baseball coach Dave Serrano.
Manning and several members of the athletic director search committee were also on hand to welcome Currie. Davenport disclosed a key piece of advice she received from a UT supporter.
“Someone wrote last week, if you do anything that people don’t like just tell them that you love Peyton Manning,” Davenport said. “So I am here today to tell you that I love Peyton Manning and I am going to keep on loving Peyton Manning.”
Currie said once he heard Hart was retiring he thought, “boy that would be really, really special to go back to Rocky Top.”
His three children were born in Knoxville and Currie said he still carries General Neyland’s Seven Game Maxims with him.