Let us begin today's column on new University of Tennessee athletic director John Currie by noting that it is always dangerous to assume intent. Unless a person clearly explains why certain words or phrases were used to make a point, you can't know for certain the true meaning of those words.
So when new UT chancellor Beverly Davenport said this past week that her questions to Currie during the interview process included "How strong are you?" and "How much courage do you have?" and "Do you have a stiff backbone?" she could have been wondering if he physically could climb Rocky Top rather than give the Big Orange Nation a joyous reason to sing it.
Or she could indeed have been probing how willing Currie will be to fire swiftly a collection of Volunteers coaches who collectively may have the athletic department at its weakest point in 50 years.
This isn't merely one sports writer's opinion. Though it's only March and many sports have yet to crown champions, the standings for the Learfield Directors' Cup - given annually to the best overall athletic program - show the Vols dead last (we repeat, dead-stinking-last) among the Southeastern Conference's 14 member universities after the completion of football, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's soccer, women's volleyball, field hockey and men's water polo.
Heck, among state schools, not only was Middle Tennessee State (96) above the Vols, so were our University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs (107). UT was tied with Memphis at 113 and did eclipse Lipscomb and East Tennessee State, who are tied at 149.
And the Learfield rankings certainly could change. UT softball, always a strength under former UTC coaches Ralph and Karen Weekly, should lift the Vols profile. Baseball is off to an excellent start. Track and field almost always has succeeded.
But among those sports, only baseball means anything money-wise, and the diamond Vols haven't been to the NCAA tournament in 12 years after going eight times from 1993 to 2005.
Which brings up the three sports that do mean the most both money-wise and fan-wise: football, men's basketball and women's basketball.
Fair or not, the fate of football coach Butch Jones will be decided on the field this fall. Despite heavy losses to graduation and the NFL, anything less than an 8-4 record almost assuredly will call his future UT employment into question.
To use Currie's own words regarding expectations at a school with state-of-the-art facilities everywhere you turn: "We want to represent (our school) at the highest level academically, but we do not have 100,000 seats and 21,000 seats and a beautiful baseball stadium, Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center - we do not have all of this for intramurals, right? We got that stuff because we should be representing intercollegiate athletics at the highest level and winning championships."
To review, the football program last won an SEC championship in 1998. The men's basketball program last won the SEC tournament in 1979, is still waiting on its first-ever Final Four appearance and is expected to miss the NCAA tournament for a third straight year unless it wins this week's SEC tourney in Nashville.
To be fair to second-year coach Rick Barnes, he's beaten Kentucky inside Thompson-Boling Arena each year and the Vols came from 16 down at home on Saturday to beat Alabama and possibly deny the Tide an NCAA berth.
As for the Lady Vols - who many might view as the athletic department's most consistent beacon of light both on and off the court the past 40 years - as solid as they've been under Holly Warlick over her first four seasons succeeding the late legend Pat Summitt, the program seems in gradual yet steady decline, especially after failing to reach the SEC tournament quarterfinals for the first time ever this past week with a second-round loss to Alabama, which also beat UT during the regular season.
Currie won't can Warlick this season, but the words of both Warlick and senior Jordan Reynolds after the SEC tourney loss certainly won't calm criticism of the coach.
"They were tougher than us today," Warlick said. "They had a little bit of a stronger will. They just outworked us and outplayed us."
Added Reynolds: "I think we were just overlooking this team. I think we played lethargic from the beginning.
Everyone can have an off day or night. But Bama was 5-11 in league play during the regular season. The Tide bowed out rather meekly to Kentucky in the quarterfinals. If the Lady Vols, who drubbed then-national No. 3 Mississippi State less than a week earlier, couldn't get up for a Tide team that had upset them during the regular season, isn't that on both the coach and the players?
Said Warlick of Reynolds' assessment: "If that's the case, we've got to change that mindset."
Maybe she can. She's guided her alma mater to three Elite Eights in the last four years. Wins over Stanford, Notre Dame, Mississippi State and South Carolina this season prove the Lady Vols have the talent to return to the Final Four for the first time since 2008.
But if Warlick can't change her team's mindset by this time next year, no one should be surprised if Currie displays the backbone and toughness needed to hire a Lady Vols coach with no ties to Summitt.
It might take an extraordinary amount of courage. It might also be the kind of leadership from the top that appears to be sorely needed for this once-proud athletic department to win national championships in multiple sports again.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.