UT Vols: Maybe Tennessee needs an athletic director just for football

David Blackburn was my favorite for the Tennessee athletic director's job after the Vols parted company with AD Dave Hart.

Blackburn was then the athletic director at Chattanooga and also had considerable experience in a variety of athletic administrative jobs at UT. Moreover, he had a great track record for hiring coaches.

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I didn't think much about former UT football coach Phillip Fulmer as a candidate, mainly because he lacked administrative experience.

My preference didn't matter when UT swooped into Manhattan, Kan., and brought back John Currie as its athletic director.

But after last week, I'm having second thoughts about how I view the AD job.  Maybe university chancellors and presidents should, too.

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I don't know how newly hired Jeremy Pruitt will fare as Tennessee's head coach. And I don't know how Fulmer will fare as an athletic director.

However, I appreciate the way Fulmer hired a coach.

Just a week earlier, UT Chancellor Beverly Davenport fired Currie and named Fulmer as her new AD. Six days later, he had his coach.

It wasn't the coach I expected.

Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele is a friend and former coaching colleague of Fulmer's. But Steele didn't get the job. Instead, Fulmer chose an Alabama defensive coordinator over a Vol for Life. 

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Remember, Fulmer is old school when it comes to Tennessee football. And UT's old-school rival is Alabama. Yet Fulmer set the rivalry aside, just like he set his history with Steele aside, and hired the man he thought would do the best job.

That was impressive.

That made me wonder how things would have gone if Tennessee had hired Fulmer as its athletic director instead of Hart in 2011. One thing for sure: He wouldn't have scrapped the Lady Vols name for all sports except women's basketball. He knew the history. He appreciated the brand too much.

Imagine how much pain that would have spared the Tennessee fan base.

Currie later reinstated "Lady Vols" for all sports. He wasn't as successful in a bewildering coaching search that ended with his firing, rather than a hiring. 

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Fulmer's coaching search was as simple as one coach hiring another coach.

Although it's no longer fashionable to have a former football coach as your athletic director, Wisconsin's Barry Alvarez is a rare exception. And the Badgers are doing OK in football.

So is Alabama under Nick Saban, who was hired by former Alabama assistant football coach Mal Moore.

And in my 30 years of covering UT football, its best athletic director has been former football coach Doug Dickey.

Perhaps, UT should rethink the structure of its athletic department. It might be better off with an AD just for football and another administrator for every other sport in the department.

As important as football is, wouldn't that make sense?

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An athletic director for football could lighten the load for his coach. He could serve as a liaison between the coach and all the peripheral staff members who require his attention, though they have nothing to do with whether he wins or loses on Saturday.

And if Tennessee made Fulmer an AD for football, he might be willing to work beyond his two-year contract as athletic director.

Reach John Adams at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com and on Twitter @johnadamskns.

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