Altaf Nanavati • The Daily Beacon
Currie returns to good ‘ole Rocky Top John Currie ready to lead UT athletics despite critical fan base Trenton Duffer Sports Editor Within moments of the announcement of John Currie’s hiring as the new athletic director at the University of Tennessee, Vol fans made it known exactly how they felt about the new hire. Whether it was Twitter, Facebook, radio shows or hand-written letters, Currie’s reappearance in Knoxville left certain fans of the program disgruntled. But Currie welcomes the opinions – even the
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critical ones. “We’d always rather have passion, regardless of whether it’s up or down that day, than apathy and people that don’t care,” Currie said in his introductory program on Thursday, March 2. Currie should be used to that “passion.” After working as assistant athletics director at Wake Forest in 1998 and 1999, Currie returned to UT in 2000 as the assistant athletics director for development and was later promoted to associate athletics director for development in 2002. However, Currie got off to a fast and successful start while working at UT. While providing
oversight for the men’s basketball program, Currie was in direct management of fundraising, marketing, ticketing, media and public relations and the internet and broadcast offices, all of which raked in $84 million a year in revenue and gifts. In 2006, he helped secure a $50 million gift to the university for academic and athletic needs, the largest individual monetary gift in Tennessee history. Giving to the athletic program at Tennessee more than doubled while Currie was here, going from $19.5 million in 2003 to $41.6 million in 2008. Currie also helped mastermind the $200 million plan to make renovations to Neyland Stadium and helped implement new student season-ticket football sales in 2008. In 2004, regular-season football sales implemented by Currie helped the Vols to a single-game attendance record of 109,061. Renovations to multiple athletic buildings at UT were also due largely in part to Currie’s
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leadership. Spearheading the construction project of the Pratt Pavilion basketball practice facility and the $36 million renovation to Thompson-Boling Arena, Currie implemented revenue models to fund both of the projects without any outside funding from state or local government, university-derived support or tax dollars. Individual-named gifts that included the $4 million aquatic center, $2 million softball stadium, $1.5 million soccer stadium and $2 million baseball renovations were also received while Currie was at UT. The Day Golf Practice Facility was also planned in Currie’s last year. But in 2009, Currie left Tennessee to become the new director of athletics at Kansas State University. The hiring of Currie almost came out of the blue, but it’s a decision that new UT chancellor, Beverly Davenport, is completely in favor of. See ATHLETIC DIRECTOR on Page 8
Friday, March 3, 2017