I have been a Vol beat reporter for 25 years, and Tennessee's search for a new head football coach was as an intense period as I have ever spent on this beat.

In covering the most recent Tennessee football coaching search, we found things moving so fast that we fought and scraped to keep up with the facts not just by the day, but by the hour.

As the University of Tennessee released documents related to the John Currie settlement last week, I have relived the search. As page by page of communications rolled by, I decided to do what I could not as this process was unfolding in real time: I made the decision to take what I reported, the new facts that we have uncovered in these documents and some of my own opinions and write them all down. The result is this thesis-like story of the debacle that was Tennessee's coaching search under John Currie.

My preference is to uncover facts and report them rather than offer an opinion, but the uniqueness of this story simply requires both.

I realize that many know the basic story, so some revelations are more subtle than mind-blowing. Other new details are certainly eye-opening.

I am not re-inventing the wheel in putting this down and not attempting to do so, but with the acknowledgement that we don't come close to knowing everything, I, with the help of my Volquest colleagues, am putting on paper the fullest story that we know from the most baffling few weeks in recent Tennessee history.

Thanks in advance for reading it.

Jon Gruden was never going to be the football coach at Tennessee.

It had nothing to do with Tennessee, a school about which Gruden cares deeply. Gruden was simply never going to be a college football coach. Anywhere.

People who worked with Gruden knew this and shared the thought freely and consistently.

Take out the money angle. Take out the recruiting angle. Take out the “Gruden is never going on a Big Orange Caravan” angle. People that know Jon Gruden made clear that, fundamentally, he could not coach the college game based on the complexity of his offense. Young pro players can’t get Gruden’s offensive concepts, which is why his NFL teams were always stacked with veterans.

In other words, Jon Gruden, a man who rises at 3:17am each morning, could not coach anywhere that had a “20 Hour Rule.”

People who had worked with him and really knew him made clear that, no matter what you heard, Jon Gruden was never coming to Tennessee.

That’s what John Currie believed, too. But the Tennessee athletic director was dumbfounded by the intensity of the rumors that surrounded “Jon Gruden to Tennessee.”

Of course, Currie was in Manhattan, KS the first time “Grumors” hit Vol Nation five years earlier when Butch Jones was hired. Even though Currie was right about Jon Gruden not really being a candidate for his opening, he dismissed the Grumors as silliness.

And this was a huge miscalculation for John Currie.

The 2017 version of Grumors were much more intense. Tennessee fans, sick of having an irrelevant football program, saw Jon Gruden as the “game changer” that they needed. And Gruden relished having his name out there because Gruden is one of the few coaches who enjoys the limelight (see his embrace of the nickname “Chucky”, a character from the “Child’s Play” movies).

Gruden was not going to put down any Grumors. Some would say that he subtly stoked them.

So, by late November, it had gotten crazy. Many believed that it was a done deal that Gruden would come to Tennessee. A mid-November trip to Orlando for Currie seemed to be a clincher for most.

Why was Currie in Orlando in the days that followed firing Jones? Maybe he thought it was an easy place to hide in plain sight and talk with people about various potential candidates? Or maybe he was kicking the tires one final time on Jon Gruden?

Currie’s electronic records seem to indicate the former, not the latter. There is no record that Currie and Gruden ever communicated. That seemed even truer based on Currie’s complete dismissal of the Grumors privately. He claimed the whole thing was laughable. So much so that when former Vol quarterback Josh Dobbs texted Currie to ask about the status of the Gruden hire, Currie’s response was “Geez you too.”

So John Currie was right, but he was also wrong. Right about Gruden not being a realistic candidate. Wrong about not killing the Grumors and putting an end to all of it.

Grudenmania created unreal expectations for John Currie. Names after Jon Gruden didn't inspire joy. By not tamping down expectations, Currie had set himself up for his own undoing just days later.

Currie’s logic in not speaking out on the Gruden situation was rooted in his past at Tennessee. With Grumors eating up all of the conversations about the Tennessee coaching search, he could do his work in secret. Currie was following his own script from 12 years earlier when Bobby Knight was the fantasy name, as Currie locked up Bruce Pearl as Tennessee’s next basketball coach.

Currie had worked in cities like Chicago and Dallas to help then-athletic director Mike Hamilton hire Pearl. It was Currie who faxed documents from gas stations in Knoxville — rather than on campus — for fear of someone learning who he was faxing.

John Currie loved the shadows and he wanted to stay there. In his first coaching search as his own boss, Currie wanted to work alone, away from Knoxville and with attention focused on other things.

When it came to the coaching search, Currie’s tight “circle of trust” was extremely small. Outside of UT President Joe DiPietro and UTK Chancellor Beverly Davnport, only UTAD employees Reid Sigmon, Blair DeBord and members of Tennessee’s legal team seemed to have been in the loop. Currie and Sigmon spoke regularly.

We know Peyton Manning and members of the Haslam family were involved, as well, but records don’t indicate such communications.

Outside of those names, there were not many others in the loop.

It is conceivable that less than a dozen people knew what John Currie was doing. And some big names were on the outside, including Phillip Fulmer.

Five months earlier, Currie had made peace with Fulmer, putting nearly a decade of bad blood to the side. Fulmer was publicly magnanimous, as DiPietro named the former Volunteer coach as his special advisor. Athletics was part of Fulmer’s beat in this new role and, now, with his former job open, he was left out by Currie.

Currie updated people in a couple of conference calls, but information for many was limited. The most significant call may have been a 15-minute call late in the 4th quarter while Currie was watching the Vols get routed at Missouri. Currie fired Butch Jones the next morning.

Davenport seemed to be ok with Currie’s plan of attack. She liked that Currie kept her in the loop on all of his moves.

One example of Currie’s refusal to talk came on November 22. That day, Currie told Davenport that UT Board of Trustees vice chair Raja Jubron called him, but that he refused to take Jubron's call and wasn't going to call him back. Currie told Davenport he knew that he was putting her in a tough spot by blowing off Jubron, but promised that he “would deliver.”

So Vol Nation was focused on Jon Gruden, and Currie was working other names, including his own investigation into former Oregon coach Chip Kelly's desires. Currie correctly concluded that Kelly would not want to coach in the SEC. Ironically, this would be another accurate assumption that would come back to bite John Currie in the rear end.

Oh, one other thing: Currie’s work in the shadows didn’t turn out to be stealthy as he thought it would be. In the day of social media, message boards, and cell phones, everyone can play reporter and Currie’s trail was picked up by interested eyes as he made his travels. For example, Currie was spotted by a Volquest subscriber in the Charlotte airport as he headed to Chicago. The Volquest member provided photo evidence and even spoke with Currie.

Secrecy isn't a reality in today's world. And he couldn’t keep his plan a total secret from everyone who counted, even if he wanted to. Currie missed on those things.

John Currie was right about multiple things as he approached the Tennessee search. However, he had no idea that he had backed himself into the corner of all corners with his approach.

John Currie planned to have Tennessee’s next football coach hired on Sunday, Nov. 26.

While he claimed that he had no timetable, Currie actually had a very specific timetable. After scouring through documents released last week, Nov. 26 was clearly D-Day — just one day after Tennessee's final game against Vanderbilt.

In email documents sent on Saturday, Nov. 25 to Currie for his review, drafts were written in anticipation of Sunday's announcement. Those drafts included an alert of a press conference for the media and a document to send to former players, as well. Details of the press conference were set up and everyone's role was finalized.

Now, all Currie needed was a football coach.

By the time Thanksgiving week arrived (the week of Nov. 19), Currie had three clear targets.

Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy was third on the list. Gundy would be a popular choice due to his success at Oklahoma State, but Gundy was well-known to talk with other schools and then choose to stay at OSU. He had done the same thing to Tennessee five years earlier.

The Midwest City, OK native played for the Cowboys from 1986-89 and then, either as an assistant coach or head coach, had lived in Stillwater for all but five of the past 28 years.

Gundy talked a good game about leaving his alma mater, but few thought that he really would. Still, Mike Gundy was a good name to have in the background and Currie kept in contact. On that Saturday, Nov. 25, Currie messaged Mike Gundy, asking him if a Monday meeting (Nov. 27) in Oklahoma City would still work. Gundy replied a minute later, “yes.” Currie’s backup plan was in place.

Most considered Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen to be Currie’s top target, but Currie was clearly fascinated by Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano.

Currie had done deep background work on the former Rutgers and Tampa Bucs head coach and had come away very impressed. People familiar with Schiano gave him rave reviews for his toughness, recruiting and overall program-building ability. And even his failing in the NFL was seen as a positive by those with whom Currie spoke. Schiano had been humbled by the experience in Tampa, his edge had been taken off.

The coaching aspect was one thing for Schiano, but the July 12, 2016 Washington Post article was another. Cindy Boren wrote the piece.

“Former Penn State assistant coaches Greg Schiano and Tom Bradley knew that Jerry Sandusky, their colleague on Joe Paterno’s football staff, was acting improperly with young boys years before law-enforcement authorities were first notified, according to testimony from former Penn State assistant Mike McQueary that was unsealed Tuesday by a Philadelphia court.

McQueary, who testified in Sandusky’s 2012 criminal case that he had told Paterno of seeing Sandusky rape a boy in 2001, said in the 2015 deposition that he had “briefly” discussed with Bradley what he had seen.

“He said another assistant coach had come to him in the early ’90s about a very similar situation to mine, and he said that he had — someone had come to him as far back as early as the ’80s about seeing Jerry Sandusky doing something with a boy,” McQueary said.

According to McQueary, Bradley identified Schiano, now the Ohio State defensive coordinator, as the other assistant.”

Schiano denied McQueary’s assertion to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

“I never saw any abuse nor had reason to suspect any abuse during my time at Penn State.”

Schiano was never implicated in the Sandusky case. There was never any proof uncovered that he had prior knowledge of Sandusky’s behavior. But his name had been mentioned and, whether fair or not, Greg Schiano’s reputation had been hurt.

John Currie had done his background on Schiano, about his background as a football coach and his time at Penn State. Currie even called State College, PA to get as much information as possible. Currie was satisfied that the facts cleared Schiano of any wrongdoing in the Sandusky case. Currie believed that everyone else would see it this way, too.

On Thanksgiving (Nov. 23), Currie returned from watching Tennessee basketball in the Bahamas, but he didn’t come back to Knoxville. Instead, Currie headed for Columbus, Ohio, where he made numbers calls throughout the afternoon and early evening. Did he meet with people there? There is no record of that, but Schiano’s proximity certainly makes one wonder if that was the initial face-to-face with Schiano.

Whatever happened on Thanksgiving, John Currie was comfortable with the idea of Greg Schiano becoming Tennessee’s next football coach.

But there was also Dan Mullen, who was looking to leave Starkville and had Tennessee interest. In essence, Schiano and Mullen as candidates were 1A and 1B. Currie had spent weeks calling people he trusted asking them what they thought Tennessee needed in a football coach.

He had consistently been told, the program needed more toughness. Defensive coaches are winning in the SEC, Currie was reminded and he needed to hire a recruiter, who had a great recruiting staff.

Schiano in Currie's mind fit the bill perfectly.

Mullen did in many ways as well, but how confident was Currie that he could land Mullen?

Currie believed that Chip Kelly wasn't coming to the SEC despite being Florida's first choice. Scott Frost was going to Nebraska. So Mullen to Florida was logical. Currie's close friend Scott Stricklin was hiring the Gators new coach and Mullen and Stricklin had worked together at Mississippi State.

But Currie had the Mullen iron hot.

Jimmy Sexton's assistant, Clint Dowdle, who used to work at Kansas State, and Currie communicated via direct message Thanksgiving night to set up a Friday time to have a phone call with Mullen. Mullen and Peyton Manning also talked on Friday.

Saturday morning, Mullen sent Currie a message wishing him luck, confirming the conversation with Manning and telling Currie that he looked forward to seeing him on Sunday. Mullen later confirmed the late Sunday morning meeting for Nov. 26.

The Twitter direct messages verified Currie and Mullen scheduling a meeting for Sunday. And at one point Currie asked Dowdle to send him the Mullin MOU. But Florida called Mullen and everything went up in smoke for Currie.

Mullen wanted Florida badly, so a deal with the Gators was done quickly. John Currie had to turn another way to find the Tennessee’s coach, but his background work left him with a clear direction: Greg Schiano.

By 4 p.m., the Tennessee-Vanderbilt game had kicked off and no one saw Currie at Neyland Stadium. At 5:52 p.m., Currie sent a direct message to Schiano saying “assuming I should keep heading north.”

He headed to Ohio to hire Schiano.

Sources tell Volquest that when Currie went to bed that Saturday night in Ohio, his plan was to fly home with Schiano on Sunday. Currie's text messages to Chancellor Davenport on Sunday overnight and in the early morning also reinforce that.

Currie texted Chancellor Davenport at 12:32 a.m. informing her that he had a tentative deal in place. Currie told Davenport he was just awaiting work from “her/Prez”.

At 5:58 a.m., Currie texted Davenport again asking if she had heard from President DiPietro.

At 7:03 a.m., he followed up with “any word?” Davenport said that the President wanted to talk after 10 a.m. Currie again followed up with “any word.” Davenport said the she couldn't get DiPietro to answer.

After offering to “get on the phone” with her, Currie again texted “any word.” Davenport said that DiPietro was at mass which Currie said, “good. Schiano is a devout Catholic.”

John Currie had his guy and wanted this done. From midnight until 10 a.m. Sunday morning, Currie and Tennessee General Council lawyer Matthew Scoggins reached out to each other 28 times.

The text messages stopped mid-morning as Currie, Davenport, DiPietro, Tennessee athletics board members Charlie Anderson and Raja Jubron and possibly a couple more people participated in a conference call at 11 a.m. EST.

Prior to that call, Schiano's agent, Jimmy Sexton, told Currie via direct message that they needed to talk before the call and at 11:42 a.m.

Sexton messaged “update?” Currie had already expressed before the call that things might be in trouble regarding the deal based on the fact he couldn't reach DiPietro.

Currie had done his work on Greg Schiano, so he was totally comfortable with him. He was a good coach who had built Rutgers and had gotten an NFL head coaching job. He had been humbled. He hadn’t done anything wrong at Penn State with the Jerry Sandusky controversy. And coaches like Bill Belichick and Urban Meyer vouched for him 100%.

Currie could see it and felt everyone else would, too. But in his own world of secrecy, Currie proved tone deaf.

Those close to Currie asked what his PR plan was for hiring Greg Schiano. Schiano’s candidacy had been mentioned since Jones’ firing, but never elicited favorable responses.

Currie’s plan was to have national sportswriter Dan Woken write a pro-Schiano piece and to have Peyton Manning send a text to the VFLs, other key donors and friends of the program.

A complete miss in every area.

On the most basic point, the hiring of Ohio State defensive coordinator was going to be a total letdown for those who expected Jon Gruden to be Tennessee’s next coach.

Furthermore, Schiano’s reputation as a difficult person and coach painted him as incredibly unlikeable.

And obviously, the Sandusky situation. Schiano was never implicated as one who covered up Sandusky’s transgressions, but his name had come up in the 2016 Washington Post story and he had not exactly done everything in his power to make certain that everyone knew that he was innocent.

Basically, Schiano seemed like he just wanted it to go away and, while understandable, that left too much doubt. Especially, on the heels of a school embroiled in a Title IX lawsuit and for those who did not want him to be the head coach at the University of Tennessee.

Currie had been advised that Greg Schiano would not be a popular hire. But no one saw what happened coming.

The social media fury was like nothing seen in college athletics. For whatever their personal opposition to Greg Schiano, scores of Tennessee fans united to fight his hiring with all that they had. During the afternoon hours of Sunday, Nov. 26, Vol fans built the pressure hour by hour. The reality of the backlash of the potential hire that included on campus protests, the publication of Currie's cell phone number and a litany of emails.

Currie received so many messages once his UT number was leaked that he didn’t text with that phone again until Dec. 1.

During those hours, Currie continued fighting to get Schiano hired, while Davenport and DiPietro were asking questions about surviving the PR battle as their phones and emails were blowing up with messages from alumni, donors, legislators and more. By late in the afternoon, it was over, the deal with Schiano was off and Currie’s credibility was irrevocably damaged.

The only question left at 6:30 p.m. Sunday evening was whether or not Currie would meet the media to discuss the day. He didn’t. On Monday, Currie issued a statement that read more like a PR campaign for Schiano than an apology to the fans.

In 36 hours, John Currie had lost the majority of the Tennessee family by putting forth a candidate who made no one sense — for multiple reasons — for this particular search.