Randy Smith
Tennessee fans have been almost uncontrollable in their excitement over the Vols' football team this pre-season. And they should be excited. After all, Tennessee is nationally ranked and picked to win the SEC East. On Thursday of this week, those same Tennessee fans received some more news that raised the excitement level. Effective in June of 2017, Athletic Director Dave Hart will be stepping down. Normally this kind of news is met with a bit of sadness, but for a large portion of Big Orange nation, Hart's departure can't come soon enough.
To say that Dave Hart has not been a popular A.D. at Tennessee is a major understatement. Nick-named "Bama Dave" by a rather outspoken contingent of Vols' fans, his hiring was questioned from day one. Hart is an alumnus of the University of Alabama, and served the legendary Mal Moore as an assistant A.D. Prior to going to Alabama, Hart served for many years as the Athletic Director at Florida State. But it's the Alabama connection that made it difficult for those who wear a lot of orange to accept.
Hart replaced Mike Hamilton in 2011 after every move that Hamilton made turned sour in the last couple of years of his tenure; not to mention Hamilton's firing of Phillip Fulmer as football coach, and the hirings of Lane Kiffin and Derek Dooley to guide the U.T. program. Tennessee needed stability at the top of the athletic department, and believe it or not, Hart provided that stability.
When Hart started in 2011, donations to the Vols' athletic programs was nearing an all-time low. Pay outs to former coaches who had been fired were more than the entire athletic budgets at many smaller schools. Hart rolled his sleeves up and went to work, and his decisions soon became so unpopular, many called for his head less than a year into his tenure. He combined the men's and women's athletic departments, as well as firing many long-time and loyal employees. Among those was veteran Sports Information Director Bud Ford who was let go so abruptly it sent shock waves throughout Big Orange Country. Ford and others like him were replaced by outsiders who knew nothing about Volunteer traditions. His handling of Coach Pat Summitt's retirement due to her illness was also not handled well and that brought the ire of many Tennessee fans down on him as well. A few people predicted he wouldn't last two full years on the job, but here we are in 2016 and Dave Hart is still in charge. One Tennessee fan told me, "I guess we can put up with him for one more year before he goes, but I'm glad he's leaving."
Earlier I mentioned that Hart provided stability to Tennessee's athletic department. Five years after taking over, fundraising is at an all-time high, thanks to his hiring of Butch Jones as head football coach. He also hired a proven winner to run the basketball program in former Texas coach Rick Barnes, and mostly things have settled down in Knoxville.
Hart basically did the job he was hired to do, but he made a lot of enemies in doing it. He is certainly no Doug Dickey, who could be the best Athletic Director the Vols have ever had, but when it comes time to replace Dave Hart, I hope the board of trustees will hire someone who has some ties to Tennessee.....like current UTC Athletic Director David Blackburn who has worked wonders in stabilizing the Mocs' programs. Ironically, Blackburn replaced Rick Hart, who is Dave's son. Blackburn is the natural choice to move to Knoxville next summer, to replace the man Vols' fans have never bonded with, nor really ever cared to.
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Randy Smith has been covering sports on radio, television and print for the past 45 years. After leaving WRCB-TV in 2009, he has written two books, and has continued to free-lance as a play-by-play announcer. He is currently teaching Broadcasting at Coahulla Creek High School near Dalton, Ga.
His career has included a 17-year stretch as host of the Kickoff Call In Show on the University of Tennessee’s prestigious Vol Network. He has been a member of the Vol Network staff for thirty years.
He has done play-by-play on ESPN, ESPN II, CSS, and Fox SportSouth, totaling more than 500 games, and served as a well-known sports anchor on Chattanooga Television for more than a quarter-century.
In 2003, he became the first television broadcaster to be inducted into the Greater Chattanooga Area Sports Hall of Fame. Randy and his wife Shelia reside in Hixson. They have two married children, (Christi and Chris Perry; Davey and Alison Smith.) They have four grandchildren, Coleman, Boone, DellaMae and CoraLee.