Tennessee Vols morning report: John Currie on Butch Jones, Rick Barnes on Memphis series, Christian Coleman on Justin Gatlin
Tennessee Vols A.D. John Currie on Butch Jones, Renewing the Memphis series, and Christian Coleman lead the Volunteers news for Monday, June 12, 2017.
The Big Orange Caravan is heading across the state as we are in the heat of summer, and the weekend after the Tennessee Vols announced a new baseball coach, other news continues to hit.
As we get set to bring you the updates on Rocky Top for the second Monday in June of this year, we’re back to our major sports.
Football and basketball have some major news for today, and there is a budding Tennessee Vols legend commenting on a former Tennessee Vols legend that also drew headlines.
We’ll get to all of that, but today, we’re back to starting with the football news.
Tennessee Vols A.D. John Currie talks Butch Jones’s contract – Patrick Brown, GoVols247
Ever since he took over, Vol Nation has wondered what John Currie would do with Butch Jones. After all, Jones is on the hot seat. And like all athletic directors, Currie would love the chance to bring in his guy. And on Sunday with the Big Orange Caravan in Memphis, he brought up Jones’s contract.
"After the 2017 season, Jones will have three years remaining on that current deal that pays him $4.1 million annually and runs through the 2020 season, but Currie indicated prior to the Big Orange Caravan stop here there’s been no serious discussions about giving Jones a raise or extension.“We have not had any specific conversations about that,” Currie said. “We’ve had a lot of conversations about our program, but we’re really focused on getting ready for this season, doing a great job of recruiting — as he’s doing — and getting to know each other. I’m thrilled and I couldn’t be more pleased with being able to work with Coach Jones.”"
Rick Barnes says Memphis series is coming back – Tom Shad, The Commercial Appeal
With Josh Pastner gone, the Memphis Tigers aren’t running from competition anymore. And that opens the door for the Tennessee-Memphis series to come back. Tennessee Vols basketball coach Rick Barnes talked about that prospect in Memphis on Sunday.
"“It’s going to happen,” Barnes said, without specifying the potential date or year for such a matchup. “We’ve just got to get the date ready, and whether we start here or start there.”After playing each other annually between 1988 and 2001 and in eight consecutive seasons from 2006 to 2013, Memphis and Tennessee haven’t faced off in men’s basketball in four years. Former Tigers coach Josh Pastner discontinued the series because he believed it might help the Volunteers recruit high school players in the city."
Christian Coleman talks about Justin Gatlin – David Cobb, Chattanooga Times Free Press
Tennessee Vols track and field star Christian Coleman ran his way into the history books Friday night. Coleman became the second runner to win two sprint events at the indoor and outdoor national championships the same year. Former Vol Justin Gatlin was the other guy to do it. And wouldn’t you know it? They do have a relationship after all. In fact, Gatlin went from hero to friend for Coleman.
"“He’s a friend of mine,” Coleman told reporters, “so it’s a special moment for both of us.”Before Gatlin was a friend for Coleman, he was an inspiration.Coleman recalled watching Gatlin, now 35, in the 2004 Olympics after his career at Tennessee. Gatlin won gold in the 100-meter sprint that year, when Coleman was a boy. Then at the 2016 Olympics, they were teammates. Coleman’s stardom has only increased since then."