University of Tennessee Athletics
Inside The T - A Genuine Word
September 26, 2014 | General
By Brian Rice
UTSports.com
I sat down with Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Dave Hart on Thursday for a story you'll see later this weekend on his three years leading the Tennessee athletics department. There was one word that never came up through our 40-minute conversation, but it was one I couldn't get out of my mind: Genuine.
Dave Hart is genuine, and that's why he and the culture he has fostered at Tennessee has meshed so well with the foundation that was already here. The people in the Volunteer family are genuine, and that's the biggest reason why the word family is so often used in describing this place.
Since I started here as a freshman in 2001, I've had the opportunity to work and interact with the vast majority of the coaches that have come through Tennessee and most of them have had that trait in common. The ones that weren't genuine didn't last long, partly because that attitude just didn't fit in. It still doesn't.
Spend any amount of time with Butch Jones and his staff and you will notice quickly that what you see from them on TV is exactly what you get. Jones doesn't give one-on-one interviews, he invites people in for a conversation. His emotional reaction after Michael Palardy's game-winning kick against South Carolina put that genuine nature on display for all to see. But it's the off-field interactions with his players that tell the real story.
His door is always open to his players, but it doesn't stop there. He seeks guys out to check on them as people, not as football players. He sits on the couches of future Volunteers and promises to develop them as men, not just as athletes. He delivers on that promise with the Vol For Life program that brings in speakers to give the athletes real-world advice and experiences to help prepare them for challenges on and off the field.
Holly Warlick has the same genuine nature. If you watched the video of her team's meeting with Brad Gaines after watching the "It's Time" documentary, then you saw it. Her Tennessee roots run deep and she's genuinely thankful for the responsibility of holding up the tradition that she helped build under Pat Summitt.
I haven't had the chance to work closely with Donnie Tyndall yet, but all I needed to know about him was that among the first things he asked when he arrived in was how he could help the community. An early example of that will come this weekend in the inaugural Run for Veterans to benefit the East Tennessee Veterans Memorial and the HonorAir Knoxville program.
It's not just the highest profile sports whose coaches share the trait. Dave Serrano stopped me before a media availability to chat about a mutual friend's adventures in a hurricane. Brian Pensky is so honest in our weekly broadcast conference calls, I feel compelled to double-check that it's on the record. Karen Weekly has been known to conspire with me on pranks on softball trips. Rob Patrick frequently sends a text when he enjoys a piece that we've done on the website. I could go on and on with every other coach on campus, I have a story for them all. These are things you cannot fake, and that's why Tennessee is so often called a family. It is a family.
Back to the conversation with Dave Hart. No explanation was needed for what was on the record and what wasn't. From the moment I walked in to the moment I left, every bit of a very candid conversation was on the table for me to bring to you. That's also not something you can fake. And that's why the last three years have built towards a goal we will all be proud of. Because the goal is as genuine as the people that will get us there.
Brian Rice is a writer for UTSports.com. Questions, comments and suggestions are always welcome via Twitter at @briancrice.
