Dave Hart Named Tennessee Athletic Director After Lengthy Search

Dave Hart Hired As New Tennessee Volunteers Athletic Director

The Tennessee Volunteers will introduce Dave Hart, 62, as their new athletic director Monday, concluding a search that began in early June. Former AD Mike Hamilton was fired amid turmoil surrounding Bruce Pearl's exit, Lane Kiffin's exit and a whole array of other exits. Jon Gruden calls this guy The Interstate.

Hart comes from the Alabama Crimson Tide, where he held the title of executive director of athletics. Before heading to Tuscaloosa, he was the longtime Florida St. Seminoles AD. Alabama fans have been anxious about the news for several days now, dating back to when Jimmy Hyams first reported the potential hire.

He won't exactly inherit the stablest operation in America, with shards of a football program still being glued back together by young coach Derek Dooley.

Interim AD Joan Cronan performed ably, holding the fort through both tragedy and turnover as state legend Pat Summitt revealed her Alzheimer's diagnosis and the school hired a new men's basketball coach.

For more on the Tennessee Volunteers, visit Vols blog Rocky Top Talk.

Tennessee Wants Joe Alleva, LSU Athletic Director, But Can't Have Him

Tennessee is still searching for a replacement for departed athletic director Mike Hamilton, and contacted inter-conference rival LSU about their athletic director, Joe Alleva, The Advertiser reports. 

However, LSU issued a press release on their Facebook page announcing that Alleva would remain at LSU under a restructured contract, presumably for more money.

In the release, LSU's chancellor Michael Martin said he heard UT had reached out Alleva, "so in concert with the leadership of the Board of Supervisors, we determined it was in the best interests of the university to make him a sufficiently fair offer and an opportunity to remain at LSU."

Alleva added in the release that LSU "showed tremendous support for me to stay," so the Tennessee offer must have been big, and LSU just came straight over the top. Because it's the SEC, and they just make it rain on their athletic departments.

Tennessee is still operating with interim athletic director Joan Cronan, who was the AD for women's sports before taking over both genders upon Hamilton's exit.

For more on the Tennessee Volunteers, visit Rocky Top Talk

Mike Hamilton's Replacement Is A Lady! (For Now)

Tennessee is one of the few major-college athletics programs in the country to field two directors, one for men's sports and one for women's, and according to Knoxville radio, the latter is about to take over for the former: Lady Vols' athletic director Joan Cronan, will serve as interim AD for all sports in the absence of Mike Hamilton while the university searches for a replacement candidate.

That replacement will also be Cronan's eventual replacement -- according to the Knoxville News-Sentinel, the new AD position will helm both departments, with Cronan moving up to serve in the school's chancellor's office in 2012. 

And if I ran the zoo, she'd have the job outright if she wanted it. The woman has worked side-by-side with Pat Summitt for so long that an untold volume of Summitt's death-ray stare power must have leached into her body through osmosis. If you've ever looked into her eyes, you already know: Nobody, pampered player or entitled coach, would dare put a toe out of line on her watch.

Ex-Vols Coach Phillip Fulmer Interested In Tennessee AD Position

The University of Tennessee's athletic director position will be vacant come the end of June and ex-coach Phillip Fulmer is interested in the job, according to ESPN's Chris Low. Current athletic director Mike Hamilton will step down on June 30 as the NCAA investigates the university for a dozen violations between its men's basketball and football teams. 

Fulmer told ESPN's Low:

"We'll see what the feelings are of the people there at the university and the decision-makers, and that's simply where we are right now. I'm not politicking for the job, and I don't need a job. But if I can help my university, I'm interested in doing that any way I can."

Fulmer was fired after the 2008 season when his Volunteers went 5-7. But he went 152-52 in his career with Tennessee and won the first BCS National Title during the 1998 season.

Over at Rocky Top Talk, Fulmer's possible return is met with some skepticism:

But is it a good idea?  Fulmer has no experience from an administration or non-football standpoint.  He's clearly an old school guy, though that's not to say he couldn't adapt where needed.  And it would create, shall we say, an interesting dynamic for Derek Dooley, to have a boss who was on that sideline just three seasons ago.

According to their unscientific poll of over 300 votes, 54 percent of Tennessee fans believe Fulmer should be brought back as the athletic director. But there's still a few weeks left in June for other candidates to emerge. Just because Fulmer is a former Vols coach, and a good one at that, doesn't mean he should automatically be the frontrunner.

For more on the Tennessee Volunteers, visit Rocky Top Talk.

Mike Hamilton Press Conference: 'I Have Become A Lightning Rod For Negative Attention'

Tennessee men's AD Mike Hamilton's resignation press conference was a brief affair, heavy on Biblical imagery and book report-quality remembrances and light on actual information. What few facts were gleaned from the Q & A session, in between Hamilton waxing awkwardly poetic, are collected below:

• Hamilton will serve as AD through June 30, and still intends to attend Saturday's hearing with the Committee on Infractions in Indianapolis, where Tennessee will defend itself against charges of NCAA violations during the football and basketball reigns of Lane Kiffin and Bruce Pearl.

• Hamilton said he's been considering this decision for several months, and will take time off to enjoy the company of his family, but believes he'll be an AD again.

• Chancellor Jimmy Cheek said that while Hamilton was not forced out, he did not attempt to dissuade Hamilton from resigning.

• Hamilton said that while serving as UT's AD has been "an incredible daily leadership lesson and a dream come true," he had "become a lightning rod for negative attention."

• A search committee of faculty members and other UT figures will be formed, and a search firm will be hired to conduct a national sweep for Tennessee's next AD. The university hopes to have a new candidate in place by football season. Cheek will have the ultimate decision over the hiring.

• Hamilton said he didn't want to give the appearance that his resignation had anything to do with Saturday's date with the NCAA. Which, presumably, is why he resigned four days before Saturday's date with the NCAA. Whatever. As Rocky Top Talk notes, "The timing here screams that something's hitting somewhere, and it's not minor."

Tennessee AD Mike Hamilton To Resign Tuesday

Mike Hamilton, University of Tennessee's  men's athletics director of eight years, will resign today, per a UT source speaking to SB Nation's Rocky Top Talk and confirmed by every other Knoxville media outlet. The school has announced a press conference at 11 a.m. EDT.

Why Hamilton's relatively short reign at the top of Volunteer athletics might not be entirely surprising: You might remember Hamilton as the guy who hired Bruce Pearl, fired Phil Fulmer, replaced him with Lane Kiffin, watched Kiffin toddle westward after a single season, replaced him with Derek Dooley, fired Bruce Pearl, hired Cuonzo Martin, and just for funsies, also cut loose Tennessee's baseball coach. Guy has to be exhausted.

Why this news is at the same time surprising and discomfiting: Tennessee's meeting with the NCAA Committee on Infractions to address charges against the football and basketball programs under Kiffin and Pearl is scheduled for Saturday in Indianapolis. As in, this Saturday. (And they still don't have a baseball coach.)

For perhaps the only calm and rational discourse you'll see on this development, visit Rocky Top Talk.