Tennessee Extinguishes John Currie Dumpster Fire, Will Mike Leach Hire Be Finalized?

John Currie has been relieved of his duties as Tennessee Athletic Director, according to Knoxville’s ABC and NBC affiliates, as well as ESPN, thus ending a tumultuous tenure that saw Vols fans, led by Clay Travis, stage an insurrection against Currie’s decision to hire Greg Schiano as head football coach.

Before Currie was dismissed from his job, the national CFB media indicated that the program had their sights set on hiring Mike Leach. This would have been a decision that would have, at the very least, made Tennessee must-watch, both on the field and in press conferences.

However, Bruce Feldman reported this morning that Leach’s hire was getting stalled by in-fighting at Tennessee:

"We’ve heard from multiple sources there is a lot of in-fighting, finger-pointing and back-stabbing taking place amongst Tennessee brass. As SI reported earlier this week, there is a growing faction at Tennessee pushing to get Currie removed. Former Vols head coach Phil Fulmer is said to be one of those battling with Currie and that could muck up the process to reel in Leach."

Now that Currie is gone, we’ll see if Leach becomes the next Tennessee coach, or if the search extends into the 8th target — at least — after Schiano, Leach, Mike Gundy, Jeff Brohm, David Cutcliffe, and Dave Doeren.

UPDATE: No longer seems like Leach is gonna get that job: