Texas A&M apparently isn’t the only SEC program whose athletic director keeps his coach’s seat quite warm with offseason comments as you can add Tennessee to the sprawling list this week.
According to SEC Country, new athletic director John Currie was on a Facebook Live with the Chattanooga Times Free Press when he discussed expectations for his new department. Not surprisingly, the subject of the Vols success on the field was brought up and let’s just say that the AD didn’t shy away from the high standards the fan base has expected.
“Number one, we’ve got to win more, ok?” Currie remarked. “But we have to do that in the context that of what we’re here about and that’s our student athletes and representing the University of Tennessee the right way, and that’s being an asset to the city, to the state and to all of college athletics.
“So we have to win more, I don’t run away from that, that’s important to the people of Tennessee, and it better be important to our student athletes and coaches, and I think it is.”
Now to be clear, Currie was speaking somewhat broadly about multiple sports and coaches but it’s hard not to construe the comments as being somewhat directed at the flagship football program in particular. Head coach Butch Jones is entering his fifth season in Knoxville and has finished no higher than second in the lackluster SEC East while failing to hit the double-digit win mark in the same time frame.
With a new man in charge and expectations fully on display for everybody now, it’s not exactly surprising to see that the time to take the next step is now for the Vols or else some changes will be afoot down in Tennessee.