The end of John Currie’s tenure as Tennessee’s athletics director was messy, unexpected, and could be very expensive for the university. Currie is currently suspended with pay after he was told to come back to Knoxville on the morning of December 1st after he had flown out to California to meet with Washington State head coach Mike Leach. The meeting with Leach allegedly did not occur with the blessings of UT officials, and Currie was subsequently relieved of his duties once he returned back to Knoxville.
According to UT Chancellor Beverly Davenport, Currie has been suspended “pending an investigation or decision relating to termination of his Employment Agreement for cause.” If Currie is not fired “for cause,” Tennessee will owe him $5.5 million in buyout money.
And it’s because of that ongoing investigation that John Currie isn’t even up for consideration for a new job, according to his former boss at Kansas State.
Kirk Schulz is the president of Washington State University and was the president of Kansas State for part of Currie’s tenure as AD there. He did a phone interview with The Seattle Times to discuss Leach’s involvement with Tennessee and to put to rest some of the misinformation that had come out last week. Schulz hopes to sign Leach to a contract extension now that the situation with Tennessee is over, but he had more to say on that and Currie specifically as well.
Bill Moos left Washington State to become the athletic director at Nebraska back in October of this year, which means WSU has a vacancy for their AD position. Schulz was asked if he would consider Currie because of their past relationship. But Schulz put any rumor of that to bed.
“John is not a candidate and would not be an appropriate hire for us at this time,” Schulz stated. “John’s got to resolve his issues with Tennessee and is in the middle of a legal battle. We have other terrific candidates who have expressed strong interest.”
Tennessee is reportedly attempting to fire Currie “with cause” citing insubordination as the reason. Currie’s meeting with Leach was allegedly not approved by Tennessee officials, and the means by which Currie arrived in California are also under investigation.
If Currie is found to have acted without university approval, it’s possible Tennessee will not have to pay him at least part of his buyout or possibly none of it all. But as for now, the investigation is still ongoing, and Currie is still mired in a legal battle.
Schulz also commented on Currie’s pursuit of Leach to become the Vols’ next head coach, saying that he had offered Leach an extension and raise prior to Curie’s meeting with the head coach.
“There was so much misinformation on the Internet about any of it, I’ve been careful not to troll that too much,” Schulz said in the interview. “A lot of people were angry at the announcement that coach Leach might have talked to another school. But to me, when we have success, people are going to come after our coaches.
“That’s a compliment to our program. We have to do our best to retain them.”
Former Vols head football coach Phillip Fulmer was announced as Currie’s replacement on December 1st, and Fulmer continued the search for Tennessee’s next head football coach. Fulmer finally found Tennessee’s man, and Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt was announced as the Vols’ head coach on December 7th.
