Phillip Fulmer becomes acting Tennessee AD after ‘sabotaging’ John Currie’s search for a football coach

Tennessee athletic director John Currie is out, according to a bunch of reports on Friday. Currie’s ouster comes amid a true mess of a search for a head football coach, after he fired Butch Jones with two weeks left in the 2017 season.

And former head coach Phillip Fulmer is in:

Chancellor Beverly Davenport announced the appointment of Phillip Fulmer as acting director of athletics on Friday.

”Phillip Fulmer will begin serving as athletic director effective immediately,” Davenport said. “I have taken these steps in the best interest of the university.”

“I am confident that Phillip understands the need to support our student-athletes and our commitment to excellence in all athletic programs. I appreciate his willingness to serve during this critical time.”

Currie isn’t mentioned in Tennessee’s press release. Davenport, the chancellor, clarifies in a letter that Currie’s been placed on leave with pay.

Currie had tried to hire Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano, before that deal fell apart in a storm of unprecedented fan anger. Currie had reportedly been trying to hire Tennessee coach Mike Leach, but that didn’t go well for him.

Sports Illustrated’s Bruce Feldman reported on Friday morning:

There is a growing faction at Tennessee pushing to get Currie removed. Former Vols head coach Phil Fulmer is said to be one of those battling with Currie and that could muck up the process to reel in Leach.

And:

Recall that Fulmer was a candidate to take the team’s AD job before Currie got it back in the winter of 2017.

Fulmer was reportedly a favorite of a group of top boosters, who wanted to bring back one of the football program’s winningest coaches to lead the entire athletic department. This news will disappoint the people in Fulmer’s corner, though Currie’s got his own Tennessee history.

Fulmer was 151-52-1 in 17 seasons in Knoxville, winning a national championship in the 1998 season. Only Bob Neyland, who won 173 games between 1926 and 1952, won more football games leading the Vols. Fulmer left his job, reportedly under pressure, after the 2008 season. He still appears at Tennessee games and was a College GameDay guest picker (choosing the Vols) before 2016’s game against Florida.

Currie had been in charge at K-State since 2009, when he left Knoxville to take over the Wildcats. (He has a master’s degree from UT in sports management, too.)

At Kansas State, Currie benefited from the stability of having longtime football coach Bill Snyder around since his first year on the job. Kansas State said he’d overseen $200 million-plus in facility upgrades. Everything seemed smooth.

At Tennessee, things were not smooth. And one of the people Currie got the job over is apparently about to replace him in that role.