KNOXVILLE - Many of the coaches for Tennessee's 18 varsity sports were in their current positions when John Currie ended his first stint with the Volunteers by taking the athletic director job at Kansas State in 2009.
Butch Jones isn't one of them.
Entering his fifth season as Tennessee's football coach, Jones will be working for a boss who didn't hire him with Currie officially replacing Dave Hart on April 1.
"We have mutual friends," Currie said of Jones during a phone interview Thursday morning. "I have known him and probably met him five or six years ago at a function when he was still at Cincinnati. He's well-regarded.
"Obviously he's got a lot of energy, and I'm excited to get to know him better."
Every athletic director strives for across-the-board success, but there's no question Tennessee's football program carries by far the most weight for the athletic department and the entire university. The success or failure of the football program means more to more people and impacts Tennessee's bottom line the most, which is why Hart so often stressed the importance of getting it healthy again during his six-year tenure.
Coming off back-to-back nine-win seasons, the Vols undeniably are in a better spot now under Jones than they were when the Derek Dooley era ended with the 2012 season, but the past two seasons it's been more about the games Tennessee hasn't won, whether it was Florida and Oklahoma in 2015 or South Carolina and Vanderbilt in 2016.
Currie, who spent nearly a decade in Tennessee's athletic department during the 2000s, acknowledged he'll need to reacquaint himself with a program he hasn't followed closely the past eight years while at Kansas State, which went 66-37 with seven straight bowl appearances and three top-20 finishes under legendary coach Bill Snyder.
"I haven't followed the program especially closely over the last couple of years, because any time you're an AD you should be totally invested heart and soul into wherever you are, and that's where I've been at Kansas State," he said.
"Tennessee's been to the top of the mountain. That's where we want to go. It's a process to get there, and I think we have to be strategic about how we go about it. I'm looking forward to getting to know our program and reacquaint myself with the Southeastern Conference.
"Obviously we know how difficult the competition is and how tough the deal is, and we also know that the margin between incredible success and perceived lack of success is very, very narrow. We always have to keep that in mind."
Regardless of all the hot-seat talk surrounding Jones this season, the bottom line is the 2017 season is pivotal for him for no other reason than his contract situation. Jones' current deal runs through the 2020 season, meaning he'll have three years on it after this season. He would need greater security for recruiting purposes alone.
The situation almost certainly will require addressing one way or the other.
The new-look Vols, who begin spring practice next week, are revamping the depth chart after losing multiple star players and integrating five new assistant coaches, not including promoted offensive coordinator Larry Scott.
Currie will want to be intentional about gaining a complete understanding of his most important program, but he wants to be mostly hands-off.
"Going back to what I said earlier about an AD's role, I'm not going to get in the way, first of all," he said. "If I'm at every football practice, that means I'm not being very effective to help football. I don't need to be on the sideline at every football practice, because that's not the best way for me to help the football program.
"That's not the best way for me to help the rowing program, to be at the water every morning. I need to be in a building and evaluating and (supporting) the program and continuing to do what I can do to help our coaches with whatever needs they have. I'm really looking forward to that process with all of our coaches."
Currie said he was in contact with all of Tennessee's coaches within 48 hours of accepting the job, but his relationship with Jones will require more work than others.
"Again, it's about listening," he said. "I said this last week, so I apologize for being redundant, but I am not an NFL general manager. I don't hire assistant coaches. I don't pick players. That's not my job. My job as an athletics director is to make sure that the support and the infrastructure is in place that our coaches need to compete at the highest level.
"That's what I'm going to roll my sleeves up and do every single day."