North Carolina State football coach Dave Doeren has turned down Tennessee’s offer for the same position in Knoxville, according to several social media reports.
The Wolfpack countered the Vols’ offer from athletic director John Currie with a $3 million, five-year deal.
So, once again the question for Currie, who has been besieged by Tennessee fans and even state legislators for his inept handling of the coach search, is where does Currie go from here?
He has refused to talk with Lane Kiffin, a former UT coach, or Tee Martin, the Vols’ ex-national champion quarterback who now is the offensive coordinator at Southern Cal.
Maybe he’s talked to SMU’s Chad Morris. He could possibly try to lure Jeremy Pruitt, Alabama’s defensive coordinator? Or Kevin Steele, the defensive coordinator at Auburn.
The more pertinent question for Currie might be: What coach is willing to talk to him?
Currie muffed potential deals with Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano, after a remarkable firestorm from angry Tennessee fans and his bids to get Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy and Purdue coach Jeff Brohm fell flat.
Stay tuned.
(This story appeared Wednesday on Chattanoogan.com Wednesday)
After bumbling and stumbling through a tumultuous weekend, Tennessee appeared on the verge of hiring Purdue’s Jeff Brohm to become the Vols’ next football coach on Wednesday.
That news broke late morning and buoyed the hopes that John Currie, the Vols’ beleaguered athletic director, had finally secured a replacement for Butch Jones who was fired on Nov. 12 just hours after suffering a 50-17 loss at Missouri and two games shy of five full seasons in Knoxville.
Brady Hoke, the Vols’ defensive line coach, took over the program as an interim coach and lost to LSU and Vanderbilt as Tennessee ended with embarrassing 4-8 overall and 0-8 SEC records.
It was the first time Tennessee lost eight games in a season in the program’s 121-year history. Also, the Vols had never gone winless in the conference since it was founded in 1933. They had never lost to Kentucky and Vanderbilt in the same season since 1964 when Doug Dickey was in his first year as Tennessee coach.
Negotiations broke down and by mid-afternoon and Tennessee has apparently lost out out on getting the 46-year-old Brohm to take over the reins in Knoxville. Brohm hasn’t officially said no, but when UT chancellor Beverly Davenport balked at the original five-year deal Currie pitched to Brohm, Currie went back with a second, lower batch of numbers and Brohm wanted Tennessee to stick with the original deal.
“No deal was reached between Tennessee and Purdue’s Jeff Brohm, and the Vols have now turned their attention to N.C. State’s Dave Doeren,” ESPN’s Chris Low tweeted around 4 p.m.
According to a report from Gridiron Now’s John Brice, Currie offered Brohm with a deal he wasn’t authorized to make.
It was the second time this week Currie’s negotiations put egg on his face. Currie had to back out of deal with Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano, caused in large part by a monumental firestorm from fans and even state legislators pertaining to Schiano’s past links with Penn State during the Jerry Sandusky era in Columbus.
Hours earlier reports had Doeren actively involved in talking with other schools, including Tennessee, Mississippi State and Ole Miss after contract talks with Doeren and NC State athletic director Debbie Yow became strained.
Doeren is believed to have been close to taking the Ole Miss job last week before the Rebels decided to take the “interim” tag off Matt Luke and give him the head coaching position.
Doeren, 45, is 33-30 in five seasons with the Wolfpack, who went 8-4 this season. At one point in the season, NC State was 6-1 and ranked No. 14 in the polls before dropping three straight games to Notre Dame, Clemson and Wake Forest.
The eight-win season automatically extended Doeren’s contract through the 2020 season.
After Currie’s debacle with Schiano, he failed two days later to lure Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy away from the Cowboys.
Two days later, Currie failed in luring Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy away from the Cowboys.
Within hours, Currie turned his attention to SMU’s Chad Morris and Brohm, the former Louisville quarterback who is winding down his first season with the Boilermakers. Purdue is 6-6 and awaiting news of a postseason bowl game. However, it's unlikely that Morris will interview with Tennessee.
Purdue, 4-5 in the Big Ten, won three of its last four regular season games and routed Missouri, 35-3, on Sept. 16. Missouri routed the Vols by 33 points.
The Boilermakers went 3-9 overall and 1-8 in league play last season. Coach Darrell Hazell was fired on Oct. 16, 2016, and Gerald Parker took over as interim head coach.
Brohm, who played seven years in the National Football League, was hired at Purdue less than two months later.
At the time, Brohm said: “Purdue is known as the ‘Cradle of Quarterbacks,’ and that history is very enticing. We will play a brand of football that features the quarterback’s strengths. Our style will be wide open and exciting. Our style will be wide open and exciting, and we think the fans will enjoy watching us play.”
In 2016, the Boilermakers drew 241,158 to seven home games, an average of 34,451. This year Purdue attracted 287,303 for an average of 47,883 for six home games and the Michigan game drew 60,042, the single-largest turnout of the season and first sellout in “many, many years.” The home finale pulled in 52,105.
Clearly, Brohm and the Boilermakers were able to put fannies in the seats
Could he do the same Tennessee and its 102,455-seat Neyland Stadium? In the long-running rivalry game against Vanderbilt, the paid attendance was 83,117, but the estimated actual crowd was around 55,000.
While at Western Kentucky, Brohm’s offense was ranked No. 6 nationally in scoring in 2014, No. 3 in 2015 and No. 1 in 2016.
Brohm, twice selected in the Major League Baseball draft, is widely regarded as a young up-and-comer in the coaching ranks. He was 30-10 at WKU and won three bowl games. His 2015 team ended up 12-2 and ranked No. 24 in the final AP poll.
While the talks with Brohm are at the least in jeopardy, Doeren seems to be another target for Currie, who has so far refused to contact former Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin and former quarterback Tee Martin, who led the Vols to the 1998 national championship.
Martin is currently the offensive coordinator at Southern Cal.
And, once again Currie is catching flak from distressed fans. At the Vols' basketball game against Mercer on Wednesday night there were loud chants of "Fire Currie" among students and at least one student was physically escorted -- at one time he was taken to the ground -- by police out of Thompson-Boling Arena.
Fans continue to scream "Fire Currie" and the band is instructed to start playing. The crowd boos the band.
Later on, the chants changed to "We Want Kiffin." And shortly after the Kiffin chant came this: "Hire Tee."
Many of the other fans attending the game joined in chanting the same two-word phrase. The band was instructed to start playing and the crowd boos the band.
Fans at a WWE Monday Night Raw wrestling event filmed for television in the on-campus basketball arena got into the "Fire Currie" act.
The same chants were heard at a Knoxville high school basketball game on Tuesday.
Many fans are still calling for Currie to be fired. After his handling of the Brohm negotiations, those calls are likely to grow even louder.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)