Tennessee Vols: Was John Currie Actually Responsible For Frank Martin Leaving Kansas State?

The Tennessee Vols recently hired former Kansas State AD John Currie to lead the athletic department in Knoxville.

The South Carolina Gamecocks’ cinderella final four run has brought its fair share of negative press to the Tennessee Vols’ recently hired athletic director.

That’s because South Carolina made their final final four run under a head coach that many have accused Tennessee’s new athletic director of pushing out at Kansas State.

A CBS Sports article this week went all in on John Currie, accusing him of running off Frank Martin from Kansas State, and wishing Vol fans luck with their new athletic director.

Here’s a brief excerpt from that article:

"Which is just what happened five years ago, when Currie, at the time Kansas State’s athletic director, did everything in his power to make Martin miserable and force the coach out of Manhattan, Kan. It didn’t matter Martin was one of the few coaches capable of giving that phenomenal fan base the basketball tradition they deserve. Currie got his way, and South Carolina got a miracle maker now two wins from cutting down the nets."

As you can see, it clearly paints Currie as the villain. But anyone that keeps up with college basketball knows Martin is not without fault. He’s far from a saint.

So logic would state the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle (as is usually the case).

As luck would have it, Currie was directly asked about the Martin situation by a USA Today writer this week. He didn’t shy away from the question either.

"I know the reality of that situation. I’m proud of what Frank Martin has accomplished at South Carolina, he’s done a great job, he’s a good person, got a good family. He did a great job at K-State, I learned a lot from him and I would have loved to have continued to work with him. He made the decision to leave, which was five years ago, and that’s not really a story this week. The story is the incredible job he’s done at South Carolina."

It was well documented during Currie and Martin’s overlapping time at Kansas State that the two had vastly different personalities.

Currie was, by most accounts, all about public relations and staying above the fray. Martin, as has also been well documented, was more crass.

The two personalties were on opposite ends of the spectrum. And it didn’t take long for the two to clash and for Martin to accuse Currie of “micro-managing”, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.

According to that same report, the complete breakdown of the relationship between Currie and Martin occurred when Currie informed Martin that junior Jamar Samuels wouldn’t play because he accepted a $200 wire transfer from an AAU coach.

Martin publicly disagreed with the situation.

Obviously Martin was in the wrong, because we’ve seen in many situations that sitting the player in a situation like that is absolutely the right decision. In fact, sometimes it’s the only decision (unless you want to risk vacating a season’s worth of wins).

But we all know that Martin didn’t leave Kansas State simply because he was forced to sit a player that broke NCAA rules.

No, there was definitely more to the story.

According to this report, Martin had created a tense culture in the Kansas State locker room, which had several players promising to transfer.

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If that report is to be believed, Martin saw a way out of a tough situation where an exile of players was possible at Kansas State.

The report also says that Currie’s calls to Martin, after he had spoke with South Carolina, went unanswered. Currie wanted Martin back.

That is until Currie actually spoke to the players, and discovered they weren’t all that upset at the idea of Martin leaving town.

It’s at that point that Currie decided to not counter whatever offer South Carolina made to Martin.

So who really deserves the blame for Martin leaving Kansas State?

In my opinion, neither Martin or Currie deserves the blame.

Currie and Martin together was never going to work. Their personalties were too contradicting of each other. And that was evident from the beginning of their relationship.

What does all of this have to do with Currie at Tennessee?

Nothing.

What happened between Currie and Martin was the result of a perfect storm.

Currie wants to run a successful athletic department. His job depends on it.

And a lot of folks think he’s pretty damn good at it.

Ed McKechnie, chairman of the Kansas regents, had no problems telling the media how committed Currie is to raising money and giving coaches the resources they need to be successful.

"If I was a coach and I was looking for an athletic director, I’d be a big John Currie fan."

I have no idea what kind of success Currie will have at Tennessee.

There’s really no way to know.

But I do know that Currie is going to do what he can to make Tennessee successful in all sports.

He may or may not succeed, but I don’t think he’s going to let his ego get in the way.

For example if Butch Jones isn’t successful in delivering wins and achieving goals, there will be another football coach. Same with every other sport.

Currie at least deserves a chance.

Because let’s be honest, it can’t get much worse than what Mike Hamilton and Dave Hart did to the Vols’ athletic department.

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