The men’s and women’s athletic departments at Tennessee are moving forward with plans to combine parts of their operations in an effort to save money and operate more efficiently.
Tennessee will implement the first of three phases of consolidation July 1, with a second phase to take effect July 1, 2010, according to athletic department spokeswoman Tiffany Carpenter.
A date for the third phase has not been set.
The first phase of changes will affect the compliance, development, event management and sports information offices in both departments.
The consolidation came at the request of outgoing UT president John Petersen, who asked the men’s and women’s athletic departments form a committee to examine the efficiency of each department.
Each of the offices involved in the first phase of consolidation have been asked to submit plans to achieve the committee’s goals, Carpenter said.
The individual offices are scheduled to submit their plans next month.
Changes to the athletic departments will be discussed during Board of Trustees meetings this week in Memphis. Men’s athletic director Mike Hamilton and women’s athletic director Joan Cronan are expected to attend the meeting, however, specific details of the consolidation are not expected to be released until after plans are finalized.
Some positions could be eliminated, however, many of those are positions already vacant.
Tennessee, which has a combined athletic budget of nearly $88 million, is the only school in the SEC with separate men’s and women’s athletic departments and one of very few in Division I.
Drew Edwards covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6274.
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Comments » 18
dvhill100 writes:
Makes sense. Even if you can afford separate organizations, in this economy you get nothing but bad PR, especially when the university is looking at academic shortfalls and reductions.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
Not terribly surprised to see this being discussed. I have never had strong feelings one way or the other about the separate athletic departments, but I always felt that there HAD to be some unnecessary duplication in having the two operations that we can no longer afford.
tngl4ut writes:
This will be the sign of the apocalypse if anyone in any athlectics department loses their job. I absolutely guarantee you that there is some dead weight taking up space but as long as they raising enough funds to cover their expenses then I really don't care since it is for the most part private money. Please don't use the phrase effecient and athletic department in the same sentence.
dvhill100 writes:
There was actually some talk of that a few years ago. Not Pat coaching both, but actually coaching the men's. She turned it down as I understand. Probably a good call all things considered.
givehim6 writes:
Equality.
budd#207344 writes:
Unfortuneatly this may hurt more than we know. The separate departments have allowed UT to create one of the best women's programs in the country. Whether you are for or against women's sports the publicity has been great for the university. There needs to be someone whose sole focus is on the women's programs and not trying to balance between men and women.
This is really a chance for the jake legs in Nashville to get their slimy little hands on some of the UTAD money. If I were a major contributor I would be calling the state rep(s) I have in my pocket and tell them to kill this deal. The UTAD is paid for by folks who want to pay for it. But a politician sees people giving money and figures its either a tax he needs to get his hands on or a religion.
tennezz writes:
Hey gatorzz, is there anything to the rumor that erbie is going to coach womens gymnastics team?
LadyVolFanForever writes:
amen. UT has been one of the main forces in women's athletics ! For that to go by the wayside would be a crying shame.
oldvolsfan writes:
I like that one
utchris writes:
I agree that the separate departments have allowed for the women to be more successful. The culture and attention towards women's athletics is far and away at the top of the spectrum as compared to other schools across the country.
If the changes that are mentioned in this article are the only ones that come about, then I do not think that you will see much change. Some of these programs already operate closely to one another. As long as you leave the separate AD's, Strength and Conditioning Staff's, Training Rooms, etc, then things will remain pretty much in sync.
SFOrange writes:
start by showing the public a better utsports.com that consolidates all UT sports into one site...upgrade the site, the graphics (get some branding help!), great content across two great programs.
BillVol writes:
The UT women are not as successful as Stanford or UCLA or Florida, for starters. And they all have combined departments. It is long overdue that we combine our athletic departments. Not even one Lady Vol athlete will suffer because of it.
jeff1vol writes:
Bill...You did realize that ALL of UT's women's sports participated in post season play last year, correct? No other school could make that claim! It may have been '07 now that I think about it, but OVERALL Tennessee's Women's athletics is one of the best in the country consistantly and certainly doesn't need to apologize for anything.
Chartervol writes:
This is way past due. Next they need to unite under the Power T logo and ditch carolina blue.Anyone with an ounce of marketing sense knows UT's split branding policy is nonsense.
Volunatic writes:
For some reason I doubt that the new efficiencies from combining operations will translate into cheaper tickets for the fans.
Volunatic writes:
And while they're at it, ditch Mike Hamilton's initiative to replace Big Orange with black.
I've seen TBA on TV several times when there were scores of empty seats, and Hamilton's assertion that the empty seats aren't as visible when the seats are black is utter BS.
senracjr writes:
Here's a good read...
http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/...
johnlg00#206211 writes:
At least there isn't that radioactive orange glow from the empty seats now. Black IS less visible than orange. You have to look a little closer to be sure the seats are empty now; before, there couldn't be any doubt.
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