John Currie on Butch Jones' future: 'Whole focus' is on football program
Tennessee athletic director John Currie was asked Thursday if football coach Butch Jones would return for another season.
The embattled Jones is in his fifth season with the Vols (3-5, 0-5 SEC), who have lost four consecutive games and is receiving mounting criticism from fans, former players and calls for his dismissal from media and on social media.
Currie, who has been on the job since April 1, wouldn't say yes or no, but he did answer the question.
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"My whole focus for our football program is this week and I’ve been pretty consistent about that," said Currie. "I found in my career that if on Sept. 1 you’re thinking about winning the championship, you might be in trouble. You need to think about the game on Sept. 1."
'Currie can 'understand our fan frustration'
On social media, the hashtag #EmptyNeyland has been encouraging fans not to go to Saturday's home game against Southern Miss in a protest of the administration's decision to not make a decision - at least publicly - on Jones' future at UT.
"Certainly I understand our fan frustration," said Currie. "We’re not where we want to be. It’s unacceptable to be 0-5 in the Southeastern Conference. But we are where we are. As I said Monday night, our focus is on our student-athletes and I know Coach Jones is focused on that and getting our team ready to play Saturday night. Think about Kendal Vickers from North Carolina who came west and played heart his heart out he has three more chances to play at Neyland Stadium and I know we’ll have a lot of great fans there supporting our student-athletes. That’s our tradition."
More:3 good reasons for Tennessee fans not to boycott Saturday's game
A report surfaced Wednesday that offensive lineman Brett Kendrick played in last Saturday's loss at Kentucky with a concussion. Currie when asked if a player was in the game with a concussion, said he addressed the situation Wednesday and "student-athlete safety is our No. 1 concern."
Long-term results and long-term success
Updated plans for the renovation of Neyland Stadium were approved Thursday by the UT board of trustees athletics committee, a next step toward construction of the $340 million total project.
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The plans, which now include additional funding for improvements to the south end of the stadium and consolidation of the project into just two phases, still need final approval from the full board of trustees and the State Building Commission.
"This project is not about this game or last week or next week," said Currie. "This project is about the next 100 years. We can certainly hit the pause button just because we didn’t win last week, but that wouldn’t serve anybody very well. We’re focused on long-term results and long-term success."
As for a potential coaching search if Jones doesn't return, Currie hasn't been afraid to make changes at UT. He has already made two hires for the Vols in his short tenure.
"Pay attention to different trends. We had two coaching searches in the spring," said Currie. "Baseball. (Men's tennis coach) Chris Woodruff example of a great interim search. In future years as we have needs, we’ll figure out ways to make sure we have the best man or woman coaching our teams."
