Tennessee rewards Danny White with contract extension
By Mark Nagi
Sometimes it is difficult to remember.
At a time of tremendous success in Tennessee athletics, it’s tough to recollect that less than four years ago, Tennessee athletics was a complete mess.
In early 2021, Tennessee fired head football coach Jeremy Pruitt for recruiting violations which would eventually send UT to NCAA probation. Athletics Director Phillip Fulmer, who hired Pruitt following the Schiano Sunday coaching search of 2017, was forced into retirement with a healthy severance package. Yes, Fulmer received two massive buyouts from the same University.
The University of Tennessee needed something to change, because it had been floundering ever since Lane Kiffin bolted in January 2010.
On January 21, 2021, only a few days after Pruitt and Fulmer were gone, UT Chancellor Donde Plowman hired Central Florida’s Danny White to become the new Vice Chancellor/Director of Athletics at Tennessee.
It was a big boy hire that has produced dividends that few could have foreseen. Last week Plowman rewarded White, making him the highest paid AD in all of college sports. His contract extension runs through 2030, and he will make at least $2.75 million annually.
“When Danny says he and his team of exceptional athletics administrators and coaches are working to build the best athletics department in the country, those are not just empty words,” said Plowman in a UT press release. “Danny is visionary… a leader in our conference and across the country…. and is focused every day on creating the very best experiences for our student athletes, our fans and our athletics department. That focus and commitment are yielding extraordinary results across all sports.”
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve such an upwardly mobile institution with talented, supportive people all around me,” said White. “Our student-athletes, coaches and staff are inspired to be a part of something bigger than themselves… powered by the best fan base in sport. Together we have an opportunity to build something extraordinary on Rocky Top. I believe that the momentum we’ve built in our first few years is only the beginning of a much more profound story.”
Football’s success gets most of the attention as well it should. That drives the engine of an athletics department, and winning a combined 20 games over the last two seasons never hurts fundraising. The Tennessee Fund brought in nearly $140 million last Fiscal Year.
But on the other fields and courts and diamonds, Tennessee has become a national juggernaut. All 20 sports made it to the postseason last year, one of only two Power 5 conference schools to achieve that goal. The men’s basketball team won the SEC regular season title and got to the Elite 8 for only the second time in program history. The Lady Vols softball team has won back to back SEC regular season titles.
Overall, Tennessee has won three straight SEC all-sports titles, and finished third nationally in the Learfield Cup standings.
The capper was the Vols baseball team, which swept conference titles this season and then won the national championship.
Tennessee’s success is a team effort. But without White’s leadership it’s hard to imagine the good times being this good.
White isn’t resting on his laurels. Facility improvements are ongoing at Neyland Stadium and Lindsey Nelson Stadium, and he has ambitious plans for the future of the area surrounding Neyland.
The good times never last, so we should enjoy them while they are here … but this train doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.
