Ex-UT AD Called Vols Fans 'Wacko' In Texts With Reporter

KNOXVILLE, TN -- In November 2017, then-University of Tennessee athletic director John Currie told USA Today's national college sports columnist Vols fans are "wacko" and asked for "help with the PR" regarding the ultimately failed attempt to hire Greg Schiano to replace Butch Jones as football coach.

"Gonna need some help on the Pr," Currie texted columnist Dan Wolken Nov. 26. "Our people are wacko."

"I'll help. Not sure they'll listen. LOL," Wolken texted back. "I know he's a very good coach and is about the right stuff."

The texts were acquired by the Knoxville News Sentinel in an open-records request.

Wolken would later be among the first to report that Tennessee was going to hire Schiano, the Ohio State defensive coordinator and former Rutgers head coach, and had initiated the conversation with Currie in an effort to confirm the story.

Prior to the exchange with Currie, Wolken had tweeted praise for Tennessee for hiring Schiano, calling it a "home run":

Wolken was prescient in saying UT fans would hate the hire. The backlash - which stemmed from Schiano's time as an assistant at Penn State during the era Jerry Sandusky was sexually abusing boys and the ensuing cover-up at the school - was indeed swift and furious, drawing rebukes from fans and politicians.

Ultimately, Tennessee did not hire Schiano as the deal fell apart. At that time, Wolken wrote that the school was "bullied" into not hiring the coach.

Friday, Wolken, speaking to Patch from Atlanta where he is covering the NCAA men's basketball tournament, said he would not comment on the "process of reporting" or conversations with sources.

In November, other top college football media figures like Yahoo's Dan Wetzel, the AP's Ralph Russo and ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit seemed dumb-founded at the reaction of the Vols fanbase, often tying the negativity to an overly demanding fanbase that has become "circus-like" instead of the allegations of Schiano's role in the Penn State catastrophe.

Schiano has long denied he knew about Sandusky's decades of widespread abuse or that he took part in the cover-up. Sandusky was convicted in 2012 of 45 counts of sexual abuse.

The debacle around Schiano was ultimately a key factor in Tennessee relieving Currie as AD Dec. 1. The school reached a $2.5 million settlement with him this week.

Phillip Fulmer, Currie's replacement, hired Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt as football coach Dec. 7.

Image via University of Tennessee