Karns/Hardin Valley Shopper news • March 8, 2017 • A-9
Tennessee track stuck in reverse Speaking of athletics directors, did you spot Dave Hart at the bus stop, waiting for Tennessee’s one-man track team to come home from the Southeastern Conference indoor championships? It is understandable if the departing director was busy elsewhere. His reconstruction plan for the once famous Volunteer program isn’t going very well. But for Christian Coleman, it wouldn’t be going at all. The junior sprinter scored 18.25 points, about the same as all other UT track and field athletes, men and women, combined. Coleman, relay reserve at the Rio Olympics, won the SEC 60, was second in the 200 and ran a leg on an eighth-place relay team. Others boosted the scoring total to 23.5 points, bad enough for 10th place, far, far behind real track teams. Tennessee women were worse. They scored 13.5 points and finished 12th. Hart’s choice to rebuild the track program, Beth Alford-Sullivan, is in her third year as director. Her results are much like her predecessor’s, the honorable J.J. Clark. He got fired – after his people recruited Coleman.
Marvin West
Coleman was virtually hidden at Our Lady of Mercy, a small Catholic school on Evander Holyfield Highway outside Fayetteville, Ga. At 5-9 and 159, he considered himself a very fast defensive back and wide receiver with an invitation to continue football at 1-AA Valparaiso University. Life-changing events occurred in the spring of his senior year. In the Georgia Olympics, he set records in the 100 and 200, won the long jump and anchored Mercy to a gold medal in the 4x100 relay. He ran fifth in the 100 and 11th in the 200 at the New Balance Nationals and was suddenly sought as a big-time track talent. “My life could be a lot different,” said Coleman. He realizes he could be grinding away in spring football practice where the game doesn’t matter all that much. “I thought track was a
good opportunity for me. I took a leap of faith, and this is where God wanted me to be.” Why Coleman chose Tennessee remains a mystery. There is one clue. In 2007, at age 11, he won an AAU national title in the boys’ long jump – at Tom Black Track. Things were some better back then. The Vols notched another SEC title. There has been a dropoff and it is still dropping. The recent SEC meet represented an uncomfortable decline from last year – which wasn’t very good. These Vols scored about half as many points as the 2015 joint effort. Tennessee cross-country results fit the pattern. Last October, male distance runners were a distant ninth in the SEC meet, 250 points behind champion Arkansas. UT women finished 14th (last). Coach Alford-Sullivan still sounds optimistic. She talks about how young is her team. She emphasizes improvement and personal bests, even when they are far behind scoring minimums. Beth isn’t getting a lot of help from the athletics department. Poorly managed restoration of Tom Black Track ran past the deadline and the facility was inoper-
able last outdoor season. The school doesn’t have an indoor track. It does have track history. Several coaches were responsible. Chuck Rohe put track in the headlines and won an astonishing 15 consecutive SEC titles. Stan Huntsman built on that. Back in the era of dual meets, he led the Vols to a 93-26-3 record, 20 SEC titles and Tennessee’s first NCAA championship. Ex-Vol Doug Brown lasted long enough to go 53-8 and win four SEC titles and another NCAA crown. Bill Webb did rather well – 521, four SEC and two NCAA titles. Terry Crawford and Clark were big winners with the women. Clark got promoted with the merger. You don’t really want to know what happened after that. Right now, the Vols do not have a competitive track team. They have one of the finest sprinters in the world and others in similar colors who don’t accomplish all that much when it is time to run, jump or throw. Coach and athletes remain hopeful. Maybe the new AD will fix it. Marvin West invites reader reactions. His address is westwest6@netzero.com
Currie selected on split vote Newly designated University of Tennessee Athletic Director John Currie was not the unanimous choice of the six-member search committee, this writer has learned from sources who declined to be named. Peyton Manning and t r u ste e Charlie Anderson voted for former coach Phil Fulmer, while Currie was John Currie the choice of the remaining four members. None are talking on the record. The hire was a strong surprise. Manning did attend the Currie news conference Thursday in a show of unity. Interestingly, Chancellor Beverly Davenport, who was not a committee member, participated in some of the closed interviews, which increased the number of women involved from one to two – but still there were no African-Americans. Davenport, who nominally named the committee, announced the list before she even arrived in Knoxville to become chancellor. She also flew to Kansas to interview Currie after interviewing Fulmer and perhaps others. It is felt Davenport want-
Victor Ashe
ed someone who had spent a significant part of their career outside Tennessee. Currie meets that standard. When Currie last lived in Knoxville, he lived on Hillvale Turn and his family attended Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church. They were active in the community, but the majority of his life has been removed from Knoxville. If Currie, who will become 46 on April 1, restores the Lady Vols name after his April arrival, it will go a long way to winning over people who have misgivings over this surprise choice. However, the people who in reality picked him may not allow him to do this. It remains to be seen whether he will have the freedom Dave Hart has had to do whatever he wanted as athletic director. The search was trusteedriven and owned. Davenport was the conduit by which it all occurred, but her main role was to approve the choice from her employers (trustees). It will be interesting to see how
she handles the search for a new provost and communications vice chancellor. ■■ Meanwhile, the state Senate Education Committee has added $450,000 for an “intellectual diversity office,” which UT President Joe DiPietro is less than happy about. He had no clue it was coming. Davenport needs to start getting to know local lawmakers so she can be a player. Unfortunately, UT’s credibility is weak among lawmakers in Nashville, and Davenport has not been prompt in responding to inquiries. ■■ Karl Dean, former Nashville mayor, has announced as a Democratic candidate for governor next year. If elected, he would be the third consecutive mayor to become governor, following Phil Bredesen of Nashville and Bill Haslam. Interestingly, Dean declined to criticize Haslam and called him a “very good governor.” This contrasts with several GOP candidates seeking to replace Haslam who oppose Haslam’s gas tax proposal, helped to defeat his Insure Tennessee proposal or separated themselves from Haslam’s disavowal of Donald Trump in the recent presidential campaign. It also contrasts with the state Democratic Party chair, who often criticizes
Haslam. Dean is already running a general election campaign (but he may face state Rep. Craig Fitzhugh in the primary). Appealing to Haslam Republicans, who may not be happy with the eventual GOP nominee, may be a bright strategy. The current GOP candidate most closely identified with Haslam is Knoxville’s Randy Boyd, former Economic and Community Development commissioner, who filed his campaign papers on Monday. ■■ Kelsey Finch, former city director, is considering a race for city council to replace former mayor and council member Daniel Brown, who is term limited. ■■ State Rep. Rick Staples turns 47 on March 12, and former Gov. Don Sundquist turns 81 on March 15. ■■ Doug Harris, former school board chair, and his wife, Carla, are back after 3½ months circling the world and visiting over 24 countries. They especially liked Bolivia, Peru and Chile. They were in Wellington, New Zealand, on the 10th floor of a building during a 7.8 earthquake, which was a challenging experience. They felt New Zealand was one of the most beautiful countries in the world.
last words Sickness or sin?
Neighbors battle over mental health facility Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett and Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones want to divert nonviolent, misdemeanor offenders with mental health issues to a 24-bed urgent care center for psychiatric treatment rather than take them to jail. Burchett has patched together a funding package through partnerships with Helen Ross McNabb Center, the state and the city of Knoxville. Officials, starting with then-Atty. Gen. Randy Nichols, have worked eight years on this, and now it’s at risk of blowing apart. A crucial use-on-review vote comes before MPC on Thursday. I’ve written more on this for the Karns edition, which you can read online, but last week’s public meet-
Sandra Clark ing was mind-bending. After a mother told of her son’s adult-onset schizophrenia, a man stood to say, “It’s not a ‘sick’ problem, it’s a ‘sin’ problem.” He said offenders should go to jail and added that we’re just becoming too soft. It’s probably the first time Tim Burchett has been called “soft.” Neighbors have legitimate concerns about the location of such a facility, but surely no one in 2017 can question the need and the moral imperative for it. Let’s build this center.
John Butler to run for City Council Knoxville NAACP president Dr. John A. Butler will be a candidate for City Council in this year’s elections. Butler is presiding elder of the Knoxville District, AME Zion Church, and pastor of Clinton Chapel AME Zion Church in Mechanicsville. He will contend for the district seat now held by Daniel Brown, one of five termlimited incumbents who will step aside in December. John Butler In 2015, Butler filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education against Knox County Schools demanding better facilities and more representative faculties in inner city schools. “I am offering myself to serve as the advocate for District 6,” said Butler. “I want to advocate for District 6 and for other parts of the city.” Butler, who served on the Asheboro, N.C., school board before coming to Knoxville with his wife, Donna, and their three children in 2007, was a captain in the U.S. Army National Guard/Army Reserve and holds three earned degrees. He chairs the FAITH Coalition (which aims to reduce HIV and AIDS) and volunteers with Knoxville Save Our Sons Advisory Committee, Beck Cultural Exchange Center, Great Schools Part-
Betty Bean nership, KCS Disparities in Educational Outcomes steering committee, Knoxville Smarter Cities Partnership and TVA stakeholder group “Energy EfficiencyInformation Exchange.” He is the past president of the Knoxville Interdenominational Christian Ministerial Alliance (KICMA) and served seven years as a member of the Knoxville Police Advisory and Review Committee (PARC). If elected, Butler said his goal will be to boost community engagement, economic development and small business development with the aim of growing living-wage jobs. He will have the enthusiastic support of former county commissioner Diane Jordan, who said she is excited that Butler plans to run. “He’s our hero,” she said. “Nobody took us seriously until he filed that complaint, and we would have lost Vine Middle School if he hadn’t done it. He has earned our support and I’m going to do everything I can to help him get elected.” Butler will join a crowded field of candidates in the Aug. 29 primary, which will be decided by Sixth District voters only. The top two vote getters in each district will run citywide in the Nov. 8 General Election.
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