Tennessee athletic director Danny White didn’t need to tell the world that he was doing a great job. Still, he felt the need to do so during the Vols’ public celebration held on Tuesday in downtown Knoxville to recognize Tennessee’s national championship in baseball.
I hate to tell White, especially amidst the celebratory mood, but championships are expected at Tennessee. That’s what happens when you spend money and White is the highest paid athletic director in the SEC. Per reports by KnoxNews, he pulls in about $2.4-million per year.
Tennessee’s Chancellor Donde Plowman didn’t agree to plunk down that kind of cash to see the Vols lie dormant as they did for a decade before White was hired in 2019. It’s time to win. It’s time to win now. And, ultimately, that comes down to football. After all, White inherited Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello so there’s no credit given to White for the Vols’ first men’s championship since 1998, right? That’s far too simplistic.
Vitello would have likely won a championship wherever he landed as long as he received the proper financial support, which White deserves much of the credit for. Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes was also hired before White was brought into the fold. For now, everyone seems content with a solid basketball program that might never be elite. We’ll see how long that lasts.
White hasn’t won games for Tennessee football, baseball or basketball, but he’s made them all viable since being on campus by providing financial support for athletes via NIL and making sure that the Vols have one of the best support staffs in college athletics. Is there a quarterback named Nico Iamaleava, a wing player named Dalton Knecht or infielder Christian Moore if not for the NIL money that White helped lineup? Probably not.
White’s latest hire, Lady Vols’ basketball coach Kim Caldwell, hasn’t had nearly enough time to prove herself after being hired this spring so it seems clear that White is being judged on one thing: football. As well as he should be.
Here’s the great thing about the Vols’ run to a baseball championship: it’s proof that White’s methods work. White can clearly raise money and he knows how to spend it. Look at how Tennessee handled NIL spending, which they aren’t supposed to have input on by state law, but there’s no chance in creation that the Vols don’t tell collectives who to spend money on.
White’s department knew to spend splash money on an elite quarterback, like Iamaleava, but quickly learned that the most prudent spending takes place in the transfer portal, not among high school prospects. Sure, the Vols find a way for their high school prospects to get paid, but they’ll have to earn “big time” money by excelling on campus as a Vol. I’m sure baseball is being handled the same way.
The mood around the celebration on Tuesday was giddy as one would expect. However, Chancellor Donde Plowman, not-so-subtly, reminded the crowd of thousands that she had things in pretty good shape in baseball before White was even a known commodity at Tennessee. After all, she was hired was hired in 2019, two years before White.
“Three years ago, we needed a new athletic director. I guess some of you heard about that,” she said jovially. “When I met Danny White, he said, ‘We’re going to win championships!’
“What he didn’t know is that Tony Vitello was already on the road to that.”
So White didn’t hire Vitello. Still, let’s give White some credit – for now. Football deserves some more time to marinate. Or maybe White needs to win now? The pressure will start to mount if the Vols don’t compete for a championship this season.
Surely Plowman wasn’t making light of the hiring of White, who has resurrected the Vols’ football program with the hiring of Josh Heupel and, well, nothing else really matters. Maybe that’s what Plowman is thinking. Not me.
Football is on the right path. Men’s basketball and women’s basketball are on the right course and too new to judge, respectively. And the Vols just won it all in baseball. The celebration filled downtown Knoxville. Just imagine what a football championship celebration would be like. Then, White will be worth $2.4-million and then some.
