KNOXVILLE, TN (WBIR) - University of Tennessee football fans hope the
Volunteers are back on track under new Head Coach Butch Jones.
The school had
to pay millions of dollars to fire former head coach Derek Dooley and hire
Jones as the new gridiron gaffer, not to mention the ongoing payments after
firing head coach Phil Fulmer.
The Vols' carousel of coaches eroded the sports budget and had "Big
Orange Country" running in the red. Last year Chancellor Jimmy Cheek
helped balance the sports budget by giving the athletic department a three-year
break from its annual pledge of $6 million to academics.
The annual donations were promised by the athletic department as it proudly
shared the wealth of big-time college sports with academic programs.
"I think the perception was we were in great shape financially. The
reality was we were not. That we had to make some adjustments," said Dave
Hart in an interview with WBIR in December 2012.
Read more from our NBC news partner WBIR.
