Tennessee hired UCF athletic director Danny White to the same position on Rocky Top Thursday afternoon. White replaces former UT head football coach Phillip Fulmer who retired in the wake of Jeremy Pruitt being fired.
White arrived in Knoxville with his family on Friday morning for his introductory press conference that was held just after noon on campus.
?BREAKING?
Tennessee’s new Director of Athletics has arrived!
Watch as UT Chancellor Donde Plowman greets Danny White and his family moments after they land in Knoxville.#WBIR pic.twitter.com/dpugCayN3g
— Alex Myers (@AlexMyersTV) January 22, 2021
Welcome to Rocky Top, @UCFDannyWhite and family!? pic.twitter.com/YYLef7K6eH
— Donde Plowman (@DondePlowman) January 22, 2021
Coach @RickBarnesUT helped me give Aidan, Molly, Caitlin and James White a Big Orange welcome as soon as they arrived on campus. pic.twitter.com/JT0vGMDtZg
— Donde Plowman (@DondePlowman) January 22, 2021
“I am thrilled to be headed to Knoxville and to a university with a great competitive tradition and a spirited and devoted fan base,” White said in a press release on Thursday. “Volunteer fans have an expectation to win, and my first task will be taking on the search for a new head football coach. But I want all Vols to know that I am deeply committed to excellence in all of our athletic programs.”
White guided UCF to an unprecedented amount of success since he arrived in Orlando in 2015. He hired two very successful head football coaches upon his arrival in Scott Frost and Josh Heupel.
Frost led UCF to a 6-7 record in his first year on the job and then 13-0 in year two before leaving to for his alma mater at Nebraska. Heupel came in and picked up right where Frost left off and has gone 28-8 in three seasons as head coach.
“Danny White is an innovative leader in college athletics with a strong track record in recruiting and developing leaders,” UT chancellor Donde Plowman said. “He brings the combination of winning attitude, competitive drive, and dedication to integrity and academics that we are looking for.”
“We undertook this search with urgency and found strong interest from a robust candidate pool, enabling us to act quickly and with great confidence. I’m proud to say we found our leader, and I’d like to thank President Boyd, our trustees, and our staff for their support and hard work.”
In addition to his hires, White has led a robust fundraising campaign and invested in marketing efforts that have bolstered the Knights’ brand awareness. He’s thought of as an excellent leader.
White signed a new five-year contract extension in March that included a bump in annual pay ($1,081,500) to make him the highest paid AD at a public school in the state of Florida. His contract states that he would owe $2.5 million before May 11, 2021 if he were to leave. The agreement ran through 2025.
“Danny White is a great fit for the programs we are building at Tennessee,” UT System President Randy Boyd said. “He combines a strong vision for competitive excellence with a deep commitment to winning with integrity. The greatest decade in UT Athletics begins now.”
During his time with the school, UCF’s football program posted a 41-8 record. UCF won a school-record 25 straight games which included back-to-back American Athletic Conference championships, consecutive appearances in New Year’s Six Access Bowl games and a win over auburn in the 2017 Peach Bowl.
The men’s and women’s basketball programs also made appearances NCAA Tournament during White’s tenure, with the men earning the first tournament win in school history and the women the program’s first at-large bid.
He has posted school fundraising records for annual gifts received and commitments, including $31.7 million in 2019, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Those efforts contributed to several new construction projects in the athletic department.
