(Opening Statement)
“I appreciate members of the media making it here on this Sunday afternoon. This morning I met with Coach Butch Jones to discuss the future of the football program, and I informed him of my decision that he step down as the University of Tennessee’s head football coach. Transitions like this are never easy for anyone involved, and I am grateful for the way Coach Jones, Barb, Alex, Adam and Andrew have poured their hearts and souls into this community and the improvement of our football program over the past five years. I know that Coach Jones will be successful as he moves forward in his career and I know that Tennessee fans join me in thanking Coach Jones and his family for their service and dedication to this community and to the University of Tennessee.
“Coach Brady Hoke will serve as interim head coach through the remainder of the season. I am confident that Vol Nation will stick together, rally around this team and support our student-athletes.”
“We will begin an exhaustive search to identify a coach of the highest integrity and vision to propel Tennessee to championships. This is an extraordinary and special place with unique opportunities and a tradition of excellence. This coaching search will be my sole focus, and I will be in regular contact with Chancellor Davenport. I want to emphasize my commitment to hiring the best coach for the University of Tennessee.”
“I encourage you all to ask your questions today, as I do not plan to commit on the search publicly until we introduce our new head coach.”
(On the requirements he has in mind for the next Tennessee football head coach)
“Certainly all of our searches will start with integrity and a commitment to doing things the right way. If you look at our program and in the areas of particular improvement of our program, under Coach Jones’ leadership, you see the APR, the involvement of our student-athletes in our community and all of those things – those are certainly prerequisites. Certainly we expect our coach to have the dynamics that would enable him to lead us to where we know Tennessee football can and should be. Our coach needs to know what that looks like.”
(On if the decision was made with regards to the new NCAA early signing period)
“Any decisions we make affect student-athletes. They affect our staff and they obviously affect our University. We will always make our decisions at the time we make them with those interests in mind and the best for our student-athletes.”
(On reports of Butch Jones possibly swaying recruits away from Tennessee)
“I find that kind of speculative stuff silly and I trust Butch Jones and his character.”
(On the timing of the decision. Why now as opposed to a weeks earlier or after the Vanderbilt game?)
“As far as the timing, again, the decisions we make should always be made with the best interests of our student-athletes in mind. I believed as we went throughout this season, even though there were moments of frustration, there were also moments of optimism and I wanted to give our coaching staff and our student-athletes the best possible chance to be successful. I believed that the best possible chance to be successful and win the games was under Coach Jones’ leadership.”
(On if Butch Jones was relieved of his duties for cause)
“Coach Jones was not relieved for cause. He was relieved without cause. Tom Satkowiak has copies of the letter or contract with those terms that you can have on your way out today.”
(On if Butch Jones was given the opportunity to coach the final two games of the season)
“Coach Jones and I met this morning and discussed the situation and my view about where we were as a program. We came to a mutual decision about the last couple of games and I believe it is the right decision for all concerned.”
(On his message to prospective student-athletes)
“Certainly recruiting is the life blood of what we do, attracting great student-athletes to the University of Tennessee. All of the intangibles about what makes our program, this University, the city of Knoxville, the history and tradition of Neyland Stadium, the facilities, the academic support, the high graduation rates – all of those things are things that will continue to be attractive to student-athletes at the University of Tennessee. I would also say that upstairs on the fourth floor of this building, we have some great people, men and women who have worked very hard to rebuild the Tennessee football program and who have moved the Tennessee football program forward. Those men and women came to work this morning and some of them haven’t been home still because they went right from the meetings that they had with Coach Jones and then with me and right back into their work, be that recruiting stuff or game planning for the LSU game – you name it. I just have tremendous respect for those people up on the fourth floor and many of them left this morning and their spouses and children didn’t know what was coming and they haven’t been home to see their spouses and children because they are focused and dedicated to our student-athletes and to our program and to doing their jobs. So that’s our whole focus right now.”
(On the impact to make a decision based on the early signing period and the timeline to find a successor)
“The early signing period being from Dec. 20-22 is new and uncharted territory for all us to some extent. Ultimately, we have to make the decision that we believe is in the best interests of the student-athletes that we have here at the University of Tennessee right now – some are approaching graduation and others are playing their last two games in Neyland Stadium over the next couple of weeks – while we also look at the long-term future of our program. It is a variable that is new, but the core values in how we make decisions remains the same.”
(On if he will have a committee)
“I’m very fortunate and blessed that we have a great team internally throughout the department that love and serve the University of Tennessee, many for many years. While we have this particular element, which is my sole focus which is this search, we also have a lot of other stuff going on in terms of other teams competing. We had two teams compete today, one at home and one on the road, and we have a soccer team in NCAA playoffs in the next round next week. We have a big football game next weekend. We have a lot of work to do, so I will lean on our entire staff to continue to carry forward the day-to-day operations of the athletics program. I consider myself very blessed. I’ve been able to develop really good relationships across intercollegiate athletics and I’ll rely on some of those relationships as well as some folks in and around this community.”
(On if a search committee will be hired)
“No, not at this time.”
(On the decision to name Brady Hoke as the interim head coach)
“Certainly, there are nine full-time coaches and then Coach Stripling who we could have chosen. Brady Hoke is a three-time conference coach of the year in three different conferences, has won at the highest level and was a very appropriate choice. I also would commend Coach Hoke. We had him into the office immediately after my discussions with Coach Jones and I gave him the opportunity to serve as interim coach. What he said is he got into this for student-athletes and we have student-athletes who are getting ready to play their last two regular-season ball games of the year and that was his focus. I appreciate his leadership and selflessness at this time.”
(On the report from former VFL Coordinator Antone Davis about experiencing hostility from)
“We wish Antone the best in his future pursuits. Those reports had nothing to do with this decision”
(On the need to hire someone with head coaching experience)
“We need to hire the best coach for the University of Tennessee. There are a lot of different experiences out there that are relevant to our environment. Certainly, we need to hire someone who understands the magnitude that comes along with this job and the opportunities and responsibility that come along with being the head football coach at the University of Tennessee.”
(On the financial commitment to this staff and the search moving forward)
“I believe, as it relates to Coach Jones specifically, that’s somewhere in the $8.5 million range. Overall, all of our assistant coaches are under two-year contracts so all together it’s in the $13 million range. That is mitigated of course as it is quite possible that some would be retained on our next staff or that they would find jobs elsewhere if they are not retained on the next staff. We understand that that is a significant amount of money and a significant investment and we don’t take that lightly. On the other side, we are fortunate that we have the ability to manage that without impacting our day-to-day operations, our ability to attract the next coach or our ability to keep marching forward with some of the projects we’ve talked about recently.”
(On if money will be an issue on getting the top candidate for the job and how much pressure he (Currie) feels in regard to finding the next coach for Tennessee)
“In terms of money, we could always use some more around here, but we know that we have the resources to make the right decision to select the next leader of our football program. In terms of me, I’m really superfluous in terms of tide and legacies and all that kind of stuff. I understand the enormous responsibility that goes along with leading a process like this. I understand what’s at stake.”
(On what his perception of the job the next coach is coming into)
“There’s a number of different elements. We all know that our conference continues to become even more competitive than it’s always been despite ideas that it’s down or not down or whatever. That’s an ongoing level of competitiveness really across the game. We are fortunate that Coach Jones and his staff changed the culture from an academic perspective. I would tell you that our Thornton Center staff and people on campus appreciate the fact that this outgoing staff has made our academic excellence and academic achievement and expectation for our student athletes. We sit here with our highest graduation rate and APR scores in our history in football. So those things make it better for the next staff. That was something Coach Jones had to overcome right away. We also have an extraordinary facility – the Anderson Training Center – which I suppose was still under construction or maybe just being finished when Coach Jones arrived. The city of Knoxville has continued to blossom. Our university community has continued to become better and better in terms of aesthetics and the beauty of our campus and the facilities academically and athletically across our campus. The academic reputation of our university continues to grow. There are a lot of great things about this university, not to mention a 100,000-seat stadium with passionate fans.”
(On if he had spoken to the team and what his message was to the student-athletes)
“I did speak to the team earlier today; Coach Jones spoke to the team first and then I followed. I thanked them for their continued commitment to do the right things, focusing on LSU and focusing on the game after that, the fact that we’ve got exams coming up and continuing doing the right thing. I was very pleased. Obviously they respect and appreciate our outgoing head coach, but they’re also committed to being Tennessee Volunteers and doing things the right way.”
(On using Phillip Fulmer as a resource and having the 1997 SEC Championship team back to be honored this weekend)
“Certainly Coach (Phillip) Fulmer is an extraordinary resource for us in lots of ways and I do regularly talk to him about various aspects of the program. I did call him this morning after I met with Coach Jones because I wanted him to be aware of where we were and we’ll continue to consider him a great resource. We have a number of great resources around here. I sent a note out earlier this afternoon to our VFL football alumni. The opportunity we have with a championship team reuniting this weekend is one to again remind us all of kind of what it looks like for the University of Tennessee, and what it’s supposed to look like. At the same time, we have young men who have played their hearts out all year long and they’ve played with extraordinary circumstances and injuries, then you know the speculation and all that kind of stuff, then have continued to bring it every game. So, I believe that all of our former players understand that more than anyone, and I know that our former players and our fans will rally behind our team this weekend and then again against Vanderbilt the following weekend.”
(On if he had hoped to avoid a head football coaching transition in his first year as AD at Tennessee)
“I have tremendous respect for Coach Jones and for Barb. As I said earlier, they poured everything into making our program—and our program is better than when they arrived five years ago. These are difficult things; they’re hard things. I couldn’t be more proud of the way that—as we’ve continued to battle adversity over the last five or six weeks—Coach Jones has stuck to his values. He had to suspend a couple of really important players a couple weeks ago before we played at Kentucky. And what he said when we talked about that was, ‘I’m not compromising our values.’ My admiration for him has only grown in this process. He was an absolute professional when we talked this morning, he cares about his team, he cares about his coaching staff and he cares about the University of Tennessee.”
(On Coach Jones’ reaction to his Sunday morning meeting with John Currie)
“We had a very professional and appropriate conversation (this morning) and continued to have interactions over the next several hours as we worked through logistics. He cares about our student-athletes, and he cares about our coaches, and he cares about this university.”
(On if Currie has plans to utilize a search firm)
“Not at this time.”
(On what went wrong this season that caused this coaching transition to become necessary)
“We’re standing here right now because we haven’t won enough.”
(On if he can address rumors about specific head coaching targets; and on if the December NCAA Signing Period creates difficulties for NFL coaches to be viable candidates)
“One of the things that most important for me to do is not add to misinformation, so I will not be making any comments or responses to specific candidates or specific rumors. As I told our team when I met with them earlier today, unless they heard it from me directly, they should not believe it. So we will respect the integrity of the process. I know that’s difficult for all of you, as you all have your job to do, which I certainly respect—even those who greet me in the parking garage early in the morning when I arrive at work. So I respect your desire to ask those questions very much, but my responsibility is to conduct the process as efficiently and effectively as possible. And for our student-athletes who are in a time of uncertainty—both our current student-athletes and prospective student-athletes—I owe them everything I have in that regard.”
(On if any perception of program instability will be a challenge to persuading a coach to accept the Tennessee job)
“I believe that the opportunities at the University of Tennessee are extraordinary. And there are so many (great) things about the fundamental fabric of our program and our university. This is the most beautiful city in our conference. This is a special and vibrant place. We have a great university, we have an outstanding chancellor—Chancellor (Beverly) Davenport—who’s done a super job of connecting with our students and faculty. This is a wonderful opportunity. If you look out at the realm of college athletics, certainly the kind of turnover we’ve had is not optimal. But at the same time, with a couple exceptions, the old day of having somebody for 15 or 20 or 30 years don’t really exist anymore. Transition is part of our enterprise, and preparedness for transition is part of my responsibility.”
(On if this decision was made Saturday night or Sunday morning)
“Really… late last night it was evident that this was probably the direction we needed to go, for the best of all concerned. Again, we have two games left to play, and we want our student-athletes to have the best possible chance for success. We want Coach Jones and his family to be treated with the dignity and respect that they deserve. And we want to be able to focus—from my perspective—on the search going forward. None of us want to be in this position, but we are in this position. And now we move forward.”