By Jimmy Hyams
Danny White hasn’t formed a philosophy for scheduling non-conference football opponents.
Tennessee’s athletic director is waiting on the SEC to make a move.
With Texas and Oklahoma set to join the SEC in 2025, the SEC will at some point have to outline conference scheduling.
Then, White will act.
“We want to play in Neyland Stadium as much as possible,’’ White said Tuesday in an exclusive interview with SportsTalk, WMNL radio. “Obviously, adding two teams to the conference, what does that mean for SEC scheduling? We don’t know yet.
“So I’ve been a little bit slow to schedule out.
“As we work with Josh Heupel and his staff, as we kind of resurrect the program, then in concert with the SEC scheduling, we’re going to finalize our scheduling philosophy.’’
White said there are a “lot of variables’’ when it comes to scheduling. He said UT’s non-conference schedule is pretty much set through 2031, with Washington and Nebraska coming on board in future years.
He’s excited to add Washington in the “battle of the boats,’’ as White called it. Fans for both teams can arrive at the stadium via the water.
“We’re surveying the landscape to see how the conference schedule plays out and (see) what we need to do with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma,’’ White said.
“There’s no need to set in stone a philosophy. But I am a believer in at some point in the future, setting a schedule philosophy.’’
White said scheduling has a “revenue component, a business component, the student-athlete side, the competitive side and the fan experience. All of those things need to be considered.’’
White said he discusses scheduling with Heupel but ultimately White makes the “final decision based on what’s in the best interest for the program.’’
Tennessee recently paid BYU $2 million to buy out of the home-and-home contract. BYU played Tennessee in Knoxville in 2019. UT was to play BYU in Provo, Utah, in 2023.
Did UT opt out due to finances or more Vol fans being able to see UT play Virginia at Nissan Stadium in Nashville?
“All of the above,’’ White said.
White said UT will make a minimum of $1.5 million to play in Nashville and save about $500,000 in travel expenses to Utah. Considering the travel expenses to Nashville, UT will save about $400,000.
“Financially, this is a great win for us,’’ White said.
Under the contract with BYU, neither team was to be paid a fee for playing on the road.
“When you think about our players’ families,’’ White said, “this is a much better opportunity for them to attend the game. I’ve heard from so many alumni that live in middle Tennessee, they want to see us in Nashville. We’re trying to be attentive to that. A lot of priorities aligned.’’
White added: “It worked out well for BYU. We wanted to honor the contract.’’
Honoring the contract meant paying BYU the $2 million opt out fee.
About a week before the UT buyout, BYU canceled playing Utah State in a non-conference game to make sure the Cougars had room on the schedule to play UT.
This marks the second time under White UT has bought out of playing an opponent. The Vols were set to play Army this year but instead, pay Army a $500,000 fee and scheduled Akron in a move that was instigated by former athletic director Phillip Fulmer.
In 2010, Tennessee canceled playing North Carolina because, as then-AD Mike Hamilton said, “we’re not back to where we want to be,’’ and the move to play Buffalo instead will “lighten the load.’’
Some have argued that Tennessee needs to schedule better non-conference home opponents to bolster attendance. In 2016, Tennessee had a sellout against Oklahoma and checkered the stands in orange and white.
That’s the last home sellout for a non-SEC game that UT has had.
But White offered this: “I know nationally we talk about struggles with attendance. I’ve only been here one season, and after coming out of the pandemic, I’m not sure attendance challenges apply to the Vols Nation. I was so impressed with the way we filled the stadium last year.’’
Actually, UT didn’t fill Neyland often last year. The Vols announced sellouts for Georgia and Ole Miss, but actual attendance counts were less than 100,000.
And while UT had ticket sales in the last two homes games of 75,203 for South Alabama and 77,349 for Vanderbilt, turnstile attendance as well below 60,000.
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