With Dan Mullen and Greg Schiano — candidates 1A and 1B off the table — Currie enlists the help of others and tries to move forward. The result? The search for Tennessee's next football coach only got worse.

Currie still had a chance to overcome the massive blunder of Sunday and his secret ways with the search started over on Monday, November 27. He still had a candidate that would please most Tennessee fans: Mike Gundy.

Currie sent Gundy a picture of the plane he flew to Dallas on and told Gundy it was the plane that would be flying him back to Rocky Top. Currie and Gundy visited Monday night and Tuesday morning in Dallas in a hotel suite at the Grand Hyatt.

While in Dallas, Currie also met with then SMU head coach Chad Morris — an interview Morris later described to friends as bizarre. Currie, according to sources, excused himself from the interview twice, including once to take a call from Davenport. He returned to talk Morris to tell him that he might be getting fired.

Monday also brought Currie some help, as upon the advice of others, Currie — for the first time — reached out to Phillip Fulmer for his input. Some national writers would later suggest that Fulmer actually worked against Currie in an effort to take his job.

Nothing in the recently released documents suggest that. Everyone we have spoken claims that Fulmer simply tried to help Currie and his school locate their next coach.

It wouldn’t be Mike Gundy. The Oklahoma State coach did the expected: he balked on the lucrative offer and stayed at his alma mater. By Tuesday afternoon (Nov. 28), Tennessee was starting all over.

Currie had done some work on his next play, just in case. It was North Carolina State's Dave Doeren, a coach that had personally reached out to Currie via email on November 16, according to the records released.

As Currie was awaiting Gundy's arrival in Dallas on Monday (Nov. 27), he messaged Doeren's agent Jordan Bazant at 5 p.m. EST, asking him if he had a few minutes to talk. By 7 a.m. on Tuesday, Currie had arranged a meeting with Doeren and Fulmer in the Raleigh/Durham area. At 9 p.m., Tuesday night, Currie informed Bazant that Gundy was out. Currie asked if he and Fulmer could come to Raleigh that night.

Bazant asked Currie if Doeren was now his “guy” and Currie said “gonna try.” By 10 p.m., Currie was in the air and on his way to Raleigh. Fulmer was set to meet him there on Wednesday morning (November 29).

As word leaked of Doeren being the next man up, Vol fans collectively said “Who?” The search was viewed as another disaster to the Big Orange Nation. Two turndowns and the Big Orange faithful had blocked a hire. And all the while, the Gruden talk never silenced.

Currie pushed on with Doeren on Wednesday. Despite reports of Tennessee closing in on a deal with Purdue's Jeff Brohm, documents indicate no such action. We still don’t know of Currie’s dealings in Chicago or if he ever met Brohm face to face. Multiple sources told Volquest that Currie was not comfortable with Brohm after he was vetted.

The focus was on Doeren. Fulmer was said to be impressed. Duke's David Cutcliffe had endorsed Doeren.

But Wednesday was like every day in Currie's search. It wasn't normal and it wasn't without some kind of issue. There was social media backlash from Vol fans, who tweeted at Doeren and his family including his kids.

Then, Currie made the first of two “unconventional” moves. With Doeren's name in the public eye, BOT member Charlie Anderson called Currie. Sources at the time told Volquest that Currie refused to answer Anderson's questions. A fact verified by this text message from Currie on Wednesday…

"Please let the Chancellor know that Charlie called me this am and asked me what our list looked like. I told him flat out that I could not give him any names. He paused and said "you go ahead and hire the best coach you can.”

The second move occurred in the wee hours of Thursday morning (Nov. 30) when Currie direct messaged Washington State coach Mike Leach at 3:52 a.m. Leach and Currie spoke around 4 a.m. Leach had been interested in Tennessee for a long time.

As a matter of fact, Leach’s representatives reached out to Currie on Nov. 3 — 10 days before Jones’s firing — writing in a text, “Mike Leach wants to speak with you about coaching the Vols.”

Then 27 days later, Leach got his call from Currie — right as it seemed Tennessee was close to hiring Dave Doeren.

Why? John Currie had become hyper-reactive to the whims of Vol fans on social media. Fulmer reportedly was impressed with Doeren, but Currie wondered if Doeren would sell to unimpressed Tennessee fans. And he wondered if Doeren would have cold feet about the job. Based on Doeren's agent, however, he didn't.

Actually, it appears Currie might be the one who got cold feet, with Doren’s camp “withdrawing” his interest in the job after not hearing from Tennessee for several hours.

His most consistent move throughout the search was trying to stay one step ahead. Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, he spoke with Mullen, Schiano and Gundy. On the following Monday, he spoke with Morris, Gundy and started talks with Doeren’s agent. And while in Raleigh courting Doeren, Currie reached out to the controversial Leach.

The train came completely off the tracks.

Less than 24 hours earlier, Currie had told Charlie Anderson he could not discuss the search with him. That move concerned and bothered Anderson, who expressed those concerns to Davenport.

Early Thursday morning (Nov. 30), Currie, according to text messages was supposed to have a conference call with Davenport, DiPietro, Anderson, Jubron, Fulmer and a couple others. The call never happened, as Currie couldn't be reached. It was as if Tennessee’s athletic director disappeared.

And it started a long day for many, most notably Davenport and DiPietro.

After reaching out to Leach in the middle of the night, Currie headed to Los Angeles to meet Leach. He told no one at Tennessee. Currie was unreachable on a flight to the West Coast because, according to Currie, the fight had no Wi-Fi.

Meanwhile, UT officials were working on press conference details, releases and trying to figure out how to sell Dave Doeren.

However, they learned through media reports that Doeren accepted an extension and raise to remain with the Wolfpack. That extension happened because Currie went silent on Doeren and his agent. At 9:51 a.m, Bazant messaged Currie saying, “really need to hear from you.”

Currie never responded to the message via Twitter.

While this was unfolding, no one knew where Currie was.

He was in LA, brokering a deal with Mike Leach. Leach was indeed ready to come to Rocky Top. He had always had interest in the job. He was losing his athletic director at Washington State and had a desire to make a move. Leach and his agent thought Tennessee was a done deal until Tennessee officials told Leach's agent via email that they were putting their search on hold. That's when John Currie was called home.

Documents clearly show Davenport was angry.

From: bdaven11

To: Currie John

Cc: dipietro; Scoggins, Matthew

Subject: John Currie

Date: 2017-11-30 18:14:21 -0500

Dear John,

Thank you for the email. I trust you are on your way back to Knoxville as I requested in my text this afternoon. This morning we tried for six hours to

contact you about the state of the search. After finally connecting, you informed me that you were in California heading into a meeting with Mike

Leach. This was the first I had heard of this meeting. Because of the confusion from earlier in the day with the other candidate, I asked you not to

pursue any discussions about employment with any additional candidates. I would like to meet with you in my office at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow (Dec. 1) to continue this discussion.

Thank you,

Beverly

Beverly Davenport

Chancellor

The University of Tennessee Knoxville

Currie had apologized an hour earlier via email after be told to head home via text.

Thursday, December 21, 2017 at 4:56:39 PM

Subject: Leach

Date: Thursday, November 30, 2017 at 4:55:44 PM Eastern Standard Time

From: John Currie

To: Scoggins, Matthew, bdavenll, dipietro

All: I have been trying to call for 45 minutes to discuss situation but I understand from the text that I have been instructed to end my visit with Coach Leach and return to Knoxville.

I am not sure I can get a flight tonight but I will head to the airport as soon as I talk to and let him know. Although I have not offered the job or discussed terms with him, he told me that he would take the job if offered. Matthew know how to follow up with his agent Gary O'Hagan. He would make an excellent choice.

I am very sorry for the stress I caused by the Witi outage on the Delta flight. I had every intention of being able to communicate and that we could still get DD deal done while I was traveling but without an immediate answer, the negative social media assaults against him and and the media news of their negotiating with NCSU, I was concerned that I needed to be in position to meet with other candidate including Coach Leach who's was in LA recruiting. This presented an opportunity for a quick meeting, as there are direct fiights from RDU.

I apologize to all involved.

John

Currie was able to secure a flight home to Knoxville, thanks to a Kansas State donor. He landed a few hours before meeting with Davenport. Davenport didn’t bring him back to have a discussion. She brought Currie home to fire him.

While Currie was in-route, Davenport called Phillip Fulmer out of a stadium tour he was giving for fund raising. Davenport needed to discuss with Fulmer taking over the coaching search and the athletic department from Currie. And then on Friday afternoon, Dec. 1, Fulmer was introduced formally as Tennessee’s new AD.

It happened almost 10 months to the day that Currie was picked over Fulmer for the job.

Currie seemed to know what was coming, given what he told Chad Morris four days earlier and based on the message Leach sent him in the early morning hours of Friday.

“You're a good man and I hope you come out of this ok and I hope we can work together. Let me know if I can ever do anything for you. I truly wish I had gathered you up and we had the first of many beers together. I wish you and your family the best. Keep me posted all the best.”

The meeting lasted just a few minutes. Currie was put on leave for the eventual purpose of firing him. It took roughly four months to work out his $2.5 million separation settlement.

While there’s closure of the John Currie Era at Tennessee, questions regarding the final month of his tenure remain unanswered and may never be answered.

We still don’t know exactly what Currie was doing in Chicago or Orlando, Fla.

Why does Morris not show up at all in the documents when we know he interviewed for the job in Dallas?

What about Currie’s communication with the Halsem’s? Peyton Manning? Even Butch Jones?

John Currie is not a dumb man. He is organized, smart and talented. Being Tennessee’s athletic director was a dream job for him. He wanted to do his best to win championships for Vol Nation. Some things he did in less than a year on the job still seem positive.

He will get another shot at being an AD and he will likely do well.

But what ultimately cost John Currie was “Smartest Man in the Room Disease.”

Instead of putting an end to the Gruden rumors and setting expectations at a reasonable level, Currie knew better choosing instead to laugh at them and use them as a cover for his search.

Instead of properly listening to those who told him that Greg Schiano would not go over well as Tennessee’s coach, he knew better and pushed the guy that he fully believed would be the perfect choice.

Instead of sticking with the plan and hiring Dave Doeren (which may or may not have been positive), Currie decided to hop a plane to LA on his own and try to hire a coach that, while a big name, would have needed a lot of vetting and a lot of internal discussion. Currie went rogue and cost himself his job.

He should have hired a search firm and let them do the dirty work.

He should have hired an outside PR firm to help shape Tennessee’s message about their new hire.

He should have dismissed Gruden publicly early in the process, and he should have faced the media after the Schiano debacle.

He should have included Phillip Fulmer in the search from the outset. Fulmer could have helped him handle the brass and the people on the board.

He should have never gotten on that plane to LA.

A lot of mistakes. A lot of questions that will likely never be fully answered.

But one thing seems certain: John Currie chose to be the smartest man in the room. And now he is no longer in the room at Tennessee.