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Tennessee Vols: John Currie Is Looking Like Dave Hart 2.0

By Zach Ragan

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 10: A general view of Neyland Stadium during the kickoff of the game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Georgia Bulldogs on October 10, 2015 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 10: A general view of Neyland Stadium during the kickoff of the game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Georgia Bulldogs on October 10, 2015 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images) /
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Three days have passed since one of the Tennessee Vols’ worst losses in program history, and we’ve yet to see any action from the athletic department.

Tennessee Vols athletic director John Currie is quickly becoming an enemy to the hundreds of thousands of fans that spend money on UT athletics on a yearly basis.

Before the 2017 season started, a lot of folks assumed Butch Jones was on the hot seat. I was among those who were skeptical about Jones, but I still tried to look at his accomplishments objectively and give him the benefit of the doubt.

But that time has passed. I, along with nearly everyone else who pays attention to Tennessee football, have seen enough. The horrible loss to a bad Florida team, barely beating a disastrous UMass team at home and getting drilled by Georgia at home tells me all I need to know — Butch Jones is not good enough for Tennessee.

However, I’m not sure Currie and the rest of the athletic department feels the same way. Hell, at this point we don’t know how they feel at all, because they’ve went silent on us.

The football program is clearly in disarray. If Currie doesn’t act, all the good that Butch has accomplished since coming to Tennessee will be erased. Recruits are reopening their commitments and players, dating back to last season, are leaving. There’s a chance that Tennessee’s program could return to what it was in 2012.

And that absolutely can’t happen.

Firing Butch right now won’t necessarily save the 2018 recruiting class, but it will at least save the reputation of Tennessee football.

Because as of right now, everyone in the national media is laughing at Tennessee and all we’ve received from the athletic department, via their silence, is a collective shoulder shrug.

Currie needs to fire Butch, and then start blowing up Chip Kelly’s phone. Every few years there’s a coach available that has the ability to immediately turn a program around. Alabama got their Nick Saban, Ohio State got their Urban Meyer, Michigan got their Jim Harbaugh. Even Washington got their Chris Petersen.

But somehow, Tennessee fans have had it beat into their heads that they aren’t a marquee program anymore. They don’t think they can, or should, land a coach like Kelly.

This is still Tennessee we’re talking about. Neyland Stadium, 102,000 plus fans, Peyton Manning, Reggie White, running through the T. Prestige and tradition. It’s all there.

The Vols ARE marquee. They always have been, regardless of a botched coaching hire or two (or three).

If Currie fires Butch, ASAP, it will send the message to fans, recruits, players, other programs, media, etc that Tennessee isn’t playing around and mediocrity is not accepted.

Next: Potential Replacements For Butch Jones

Because as of right now, the only message that Currie is sending is that sucking at football is just fine with him.

Tell us John, is losing recruits and fan support helping Tennessee win?

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