It was announced on Friday that Phillip Fulmer would be Tennessee’s athletics director for “the foreseeable future.” John Currie was relieved of his duties on Friday morning and suspended as UT’s AD, and Fulmer was promoted to the position hours later.
While the length of Fulmer’s contract as AD hasn’t been released yet, his salary as Tennessee’s AD has thanks to a request by 247Sports.
According to the appointment letter sent to Fulmer by Tennessee chancellor Beverly Davenport on Friday, Fulmer’s annual salary will be $575,000 along with other perks customary for an athletics director. Fulmer will also receive a monthly vehicle allowance of $1,600 or two university vehicles, eight Neyland Stadium skybox tickets for home football games, and a monthly expense allowance of $2,500 or annual expense allowance of $30,000
And according to the letter, Fulmer has no definite term length as AD.
“At this time, this appointment has no definite term and is at-will,” Davenport said in her letter to Fulmer.
Fulmer’s $575,000 annual pay is significantly less than what Currie was making as Tennessee’s AD. Currie’s contract was a five-year deal that paid him $900,000 annually with incentives and bonuses that would add on to that total.
Davenport’s letter also confirmed that Currie is currently suspended with pay “pending an investigation or decision relating to termination of his Employment Agreement for cause under Article IX of his Employment Agreement.”
If Currie was fired “with cause,” Tennessee wouldn’t owe him any buyout money. If they can’t find cause, however, Tennessee will owe Currie $5.5 million as compensation. Tennessee is already paying Butch Jones $8 million for his buyout after he was fired as head coach on November 12th.
Fulmer’s previous pay as a special advisor to university president Joe DiPietro was $100,000 a year. He was brought in earlier this year in that role and has worked for the university since.
Now Fulmer is the AD, and he will be responsible for finding Tennessee’s next head football coach. It’s unclear just who Fulmer will target first, but he likely has a large list of candidates he’s looking at.
