UT Vols: John Currie didn't do his homework on Greg Schiano

I never have been a fan of search firms. But I started reassessing that Sunday when all hell broke loose about the possibility that Tennessee was going to hire Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano as its next football coach.

Several media outlets, including USA TODAY, later reported the deal had stalled amid intense fan backlash. 

When UT athletic director John Currie announced he was firing fifth-year coach Butch Jones, he also said he wouldn’t be hiring a search firm. He was probably reconsidering that decision Sunday amid a firestorm of negative reaction to Schiano's hiring.

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In fact, the reaction was so intense and so negative, the deal had unraveled by Sunday evening, according to a report from Dan Wolken of USA TODAY. That made it official: Currie’s first coaching search has reached the “disaster” stage.

Without protests, Schiano's hiring would have been announced

If not for the protests, Schiano’s hiring would have been announced early Sunday night. But Tennessee fans stole the show and stopped the hire.

More than 100 people protested outside Neyland Stadium. Fans opposing the hire also painted The Rock on campus.

Most of the backlash had nothing to do with Schiano’s coaching record. He was fired after two years as Tampa Bay’s coach, but he executed one of the great rebuilding jobs in college football when he turned around Rutgers’ program in the early 2000s.

Instead, the opposition to Schiano centered around what happened earlier in his career when he was an assistant coach at Penn State. Another assistant coach on that staff was the infamous Jerry Sandusky, a convicted child sexual abuser and focal point of one of the greatest scandals in college football history.

Did Schiano have knowledge of crimes?

There was trial testimony that Schiano had knowledge of Sandusky’s crimes. He denied that.

USA Today reported that a court document unsealed in 2016 showed that former Penn State assistant Mike McQueary testified that another assistant, Tom Bradley, informed him Schiano had reported seeing Sandusky engaged in inappropriate behavior with a boy in the early 1990s.

After McQueary’s s testimony was released, Schiano tweeted that he “never saw, nor had any reason to suspect any abuse during my time at Penn State.”

Maybe, Schiano is telling the truth. Maybe, he did nothing wrong.

But the problem with his taking a job as high-profile as UT’s football coach is that the subject was even up for discussion. And that’s on Currie, not Schiano.

Currie headed up small search team

Currie reportedly headed up a small search team, which includes former UT quarterback Peyton Manning. If Currie had employed a search firm, it would have done the research that Currie didn’t.

All he had to do was check “Wikipedia.” Instead, Currie and the Schiano family reportedly were blindsided by the reaction to Schiano's potential hiring.

It’s not crucial that you win the press conference when you make a new hire. But it is crucial you don’t have to answer questions about a pedophile trial.

Looking at a dwindling field of candidates

Now, following Sunday’s blunder, Currie will have to look elsewhere for his next football coach. And he will be looking at a dwindling field.

Chip Kelly has chosen UCLA over the Southeast. UCF coach Scott Frost apparently is more likely to return to his Nebraska homeland than go anywhere else. Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen is headed back to Florida, where he once served as an offensive coordinator.

Wherever Currie turns next, I recommend he Google his candidate’s name.   

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: Twitter.com/johnadamskns.

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