Fans: Tennessee’s search for a new head coach couldn’t possibly get any weirder.
Tennessee coach search: Hold my beer…Last night, reports surfaced that Tennessee had focused on Mike Leach as its next head coach after the Washington State coach met with athletic director John Currie. Less than 24 hours later, amidst chatter that Currie had gone rogue in his pursuit of Leach, it’s being reported that Currie has been fired by UT.
The reported parting of ways came after a meeting between Currie and university officials Friday morning.
Just filed to ESPN: Tennessee has parted ways with AD John Currie on the heels of what has been a disastrous Tennessee coaching search. He met with university officials on Friday morning, and the decision was made then.
— Chris Low (@ClowESPN) December 1, 2017
Per @Volquest_Rivals sources: "John Currie no longer works at Tennessee."
— Jesse Simonton (@JesseReSimonton) December 1, 2017
Even more intriguing is how the ouster came about. Reportedly.
Industry source: “Throughout this entire (#Tennessee) coaching search Phil Fulmer has tried to undermine AD John Currie in hopes of becoming the AD there.” https://t.co/Z2v03Nkd2h
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) December 1, 2017
Sources: John Currie was prepared to hire Mike Leach but university officials wouldn’t allow him to do so. Phillip Fulmer has been sabotaging search process in hopes to become Tennessee’s AD
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 1, 2017
Nearly nine months ago to the day, Currie was hired by UT after holding the same job at Kansas State. One of those in the running for the job? Fulmer, the former Volunteers head coach who is now expected to assume the athletic director reins.
As for where this leaves the search to replace Butch Jones? Expect to hear Tee Martin‘s name in the coming days.
Miami fires offensive coordinator Josh Gattis after 1 season
Reinhold Matay/USA TODAY Sports
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Miami fired offensive coordinator Josh Gattis on Friday, ending the former Broyles Award winner’s time with the Hurricanes after only one season.
The school announced the move in a one-sentence press release, with no other detail: “Josh Gattis has been relieved of his duties as offensive coordinator, Miami head football coach Mario Cristobal announced Friday,” read the release, sent from a university spokesman.
The Hurricanes went 5-7 in Gattis’ lone season. He was brought in by Miami only a few weeks after winning the 2021 Broyles Award – given to the nation’s top assistant coach – while serving as Michigan’s offensive coordinator and helping the Wolverines reach the College Football Playoff.
But Miami’s offense, for a number of reasons, failed to meet expectations in 2022. Part of that was injuries; starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke battled a shoulder injury, and the Hurricanes turned to Jake Garcia – who has since transferred – and Jacurri Brown for much of the season.
Miami scored 100 points in its first two games last fall, overpowering Bethune-Cookman and Southern Miss. The Hurricanes averaged only 18.3 points the rest of the way, and finished the year 5-0 in games where the defense allowed no more than 14 points – but 0-7 when opponents scored more than 14.
Miami was 86th nationally in total offense last season, averaging 367.1 yards per game, and 97th in scoring offense.
Gattis played at Wake Forest and worked at North Carolina, Western Michigan, Vanderbilt, Penn State, Alabama and Michigan before coming to Miami.
Audit: LSU discovered $1M overpayment to Kelly in 2022
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU accidentally overpaid Tigers football coach Brian Kelly by $1 million during the first year of a 10-year, $100 million contract, but discovered the error and has moved to correct it, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s office said Wednesday.
Kelly was overpaid $1,001,368 in supplemental payments in 2022 because duplicate payments made both to Kelly’s LLC and to the coach directly.
The double payments began in May and continued until LSU officials detected the errors in November.
“LSU management and the head football coach have enacted an adjusted payment schedule so the amount of overpayment will be recouped by the conclusion of fiscal year 2023,” the Legislative Auditor’s report stated.
Kelly, who previously coached at Notre Dame for 12 seasons, was hired by LSU after the 2021 season, when the Tigers went 6-7 for its first losing season since 1999.
LSU exceeded expectations in Kelly’s first season in Baton Rouge, winning the SEC West Division and finishing 10-4 after a 63-7 victory over Purdue in the Citrus Bowl.