In the wake of Tennessee’s botched attempt at bringing in Greg Schiano to replace Butch Jones as the head football coach, some powerful people are angling for athletic director John Currie to be fired.
Am told there's increasing pressure now from big-money #Vols boosters to force #Tennessee AD John Currie out in the wake of Sunday's news. UT source told me: "This is such a hot mess. Just when you think they’ve gotten out of the ditch. They’ve fallen into a much bigger one.”
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) November 27, 2017
Currie and Schiano had a deal in place Sunday that was blown to bits and pieces when fans took to social media and protested outside the school. The central theme to the protests revolved around Schiano’s alleged knowledge and cover-up of Jerry Sandusky’s heinous activities at Penn State.
Our Tennessee standards mean something, and a Greg Schiano hire would be anathema to all that our University and our community stand for. I sincerely hope that these rumors are not true, because even serious consideration would be unacceptable.
— Eddie Smith (@RepEddieSmith) November 26, 2017
SOURCES: There is some talk going on now between Greg Schiano's reps & #Tennessee about an exit strategy of what has become a very volatile situation. Paperwork was in progress. “They’ve spooked them all,” said a source. "It's a hot mess."
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) November 27, 2017
In the wake of all this drama, it’s hardly surprising that Currie could lose his job over it. Following up the past year’s failures under Jones with a debacle of this proportion is something you just can’t recover from without cleaning house.
At this point it’s unclear how Tennessee is going to make amends, both in the short and long term. There’s been plenty of talk about Jon Gruden coming back to the university, but he’s been away from coaching for a long time.
Perhaps Dallas Cowboys star tight end Jason Witten can be of service. Apparently he’s interested in the gig, which would being him back to his alma mater.