In this 2010 file photo, Kansas State athletic director John Currie discusses what he sees as the brighter future of the Big 12, during a news conference in Manhattan, Kan. Tennessee finally found its new athletics director.
Multiple sources confirmed to the Times Free Press around noon Tuesday that John Currie of Kansas State has been hired as the University of Tennessee's new athletic director. Currie worked at Tennessee as assistant athletic director from 1997-2008 before taking the job as AD at Kansas State.
Tennessee officially announced the hire later Tuesday and will introduce Currie on Thursday.
"We are extremely pleased to announce John as our new vice chancellor and director of athletics," UT chancellor Beverly Davenport said in a release. "This is truly an exciting day for the University of Tennessee and our athletics department. As I said when we began this process, we were looking for the best candidate, and we feel strongly that we have him in John Currie.
"John exemplifies all the qualities we were seeking in an athletics director. He is a man of high integrity, strong values, a progressive thinker, he fully understands the importance of being compliant in everything we do, and he is a leader who will put the well-being of our student-athletes above everything.
"We would like to thank our internal search committee for all its hard work and dedication to the process."
Currie's name began emerging early Tuesday as strong candidate to replace the outgoing Dave Hart.
The 45-year-old Currie earned a Master's of Science degree in sports management from UT in 2003. After a two-year stint as assistant athletics director at Wake Forest, Currie joined the Tennessee staff in 1997 as executive director of its athletic scholarship fund.
With Currie overseeing Kansas State's athletic department, the Wildcats won or shared Big 12 Conference championships in football, men's basketball and baseball in the 2012–2013 academic year, and Currie was honored as one of four 2013 Under Armour Athletic Directors of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.
In 2012-13, the Wildcats were the first power-conference school to win conference titles in football, men's basketball and baseball in the same year since 1998.
Kansas State's athletics department operated with a budget surplus in each of the past seven years, which allowed the department's budget to grow from $44 million to $73 million.
"It is a very exciting time for my family and me as we return to a place that remains very special to us," Currie said in a release. "We spent 10 years in Knoxville prior to taking the job at K-State, and I appreciate Chancellor Davenport and the University of Tennessee for providing us this special opportunity.
"As a graduate of the University of Tennessee, I know how much UT athletics means to the people in the state, and I look forward to serving all of the Big Orange Nation, its wonderful coaches, staff and student-athletes, for many years to come. We are excited to return to Rocky Top."
Last August Hart announced his plans to retire effective June 30, 2017, but Tennessee's search for a replacement truly didn't begin until February, when Davenport, who was hired in the fall and approved in December, officially assumed her post.
Tennessee also formed a six-member search committee and hired Turnkey Search to aid in the search process, which many Tennessee fans were hopeful would end in the hiring of Chattanooga athletics director David Blackburn, who spent two decades in various roles at Tennessee until UTC hired him in 2013.
Former Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer also emerged as a potential candidate, and he was researching and pursuing the job more than eight years after he was fired in 2008.