Second time in three years White named to prestigious list
GeneralMarch 18, 2025
University of Tennessee Vice Chancellor/Director of Athletics Danny White was named one of five finalists for Athletic Director of the Year by Sports Business Journal. The award winner will be announced Wednesday, May 21, at the Sports Business Awards in New York City.
Since arriving on Rocky Top in 2021, White has returned Tennessee Athletics to national prominence. This is the second time in three years that Sports Business Journal has recognized him as a finalist for the Athletic Director of the Year award.
The wave of momentum on Rocky Top reached a historic level in 2023-24. Tennessee Athletics finished its best year as one of only two Power Five schools to send all its teams to the postseason, the first occurrence in UT history.
The across-the-board success helped Tennessee earn a third-place finish in the LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup standings, its best mark ever, and its third straight SEC All-Sports Trophy.
Tennessee became the second school to win three consecutive SEC All-Sports titles.
Before White’s arrival, Tennessee had never won the SEC All-Sports Trophy or finished in the Top Five of the Directors’ Cup.
Eleven sports finished in the top 10, with six in the top five in 2023-24. The banner year concluded with the baseball team winning its first national championship, the 24th team crown in Tennessee history, and the first since 2009.
In 2024, Tennessee became the only school in the nation to appear in the College Football Playoff, Elite 8, and College World Series.
During the 2024-25 academic year, Tennessee is just one of three schools to have a team in the College Football Playoff and both its men’s and women’s basketball teams in the NCAA Tournament.
Since arriving on Rocky Top, White has spearheaded an unprecedented budget growth of nearly $100 million off the field.
For fiscal year 2024, Tennessee Athletics had $234,058,790 in total operating revenue. This new high watermark in UT Athletics history, eclipsing last year’s record total of just over $202 million, was $234 million.
The historic total was due to impressive levels of self-generated income for Tennessee Athletics. Ticket sales increased over 16 percent from $39.7 million in FY 2023 to $46.6 million in FY 2024. It marked the best year of ticket revenue in Tennessee Athletics history. The top two years of ticket revenue on Rocky Top have occurred over the last two fiscal years.
Contributions soared to new levels for the third straight year, with $72.7 million coming in FY 2024. It marks a staggering increase of 233 percent since FY 2021.
One of the top priorities in “Rise Glorious” was to intentionally grow the annual operating budget as part of a relentless commitment to resource all Tennessee Athletics programs and departments at an elite, championship level. UT is already outpacing the 2026-27 goal of a 200+ million-dollar budget.
White has made substantial investments in Tennessee’s athletics facilities, including the modernization of two iconic venues in Tennessee: Neyland Stadium and Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The budget for Phase 1 of the Neyland Stadium renovation is set at $337 million, while the total budget for the Lindsey Nelson Stadium project exceeds $100 million.
UT is undertaking major renovations and additions to six venues: Neyland Stadium, Lindsey Nelson Stadium, Sherri Parker Lee Stadium, Anderson Training Center, Food City Center, and the Neyland Entertainment District.
