KANSAS CITY, Mo.—John Currie is moving up from No. 2 in the athletic department at Tennessee to No. 1 at Kansas State.
Currie, 38, will be introduced on Monday as Kansas State’s director of athletes, the school announced Thursday. It’s the first major decision by incoming president Kirk Schulz, who officially succeeds the retiring Jon Wefald on June 15.
“We wanted to fill this position with the best candidate possible, and with John we feel we have accomplished that,” Schulz said in a news release. “He brings energy, integrity and experience to his new role at Kansas State and we are pleased to introduce him as our new director of athletics.”
Currie replaces Bob Krause, who stepped down earlier this year. A nine-person search committee headed by Amy Button Renz, head of the Kansas State Alumni Association, narrowed the list to three last weekend.
Currie earned a history degree from Wake Forest in 1993. He has spent the past 10 years at Tennessee, serving in various capacities. Most recently, he was executive associate athletic director.
“My family and I are thrilled to be joining the Wildcat family,” Currie said. “We are anxious to get to Manhattan and I am looking forward to this incredible opportunity.”
Working under Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton, Currie was in charge of a variety of departments, including men’s basketball, fundraising, ticketing, public relations and broadcasting.
Currie was also instrumental in hiring Bruce Pearl as men’s basketball coach. Pearl won Southeastern Conference coach of the year honors in 2008 after leading the Volunteers to their first outright conference championship in 41 years.
At Kansas State, Currie will inherit a financially challenged program that has been struggling to keep pace with the more affluent members of the Big 12 such as Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska and Kansas.
The Wildcats have fallen behind their archrival Jayhawks in both football and men’s basketball in recent years, creating restlessness among alumni.
Wefald shocked many in the Kansas State family last year by talking Bill Snyder out of a three-year retirement and installing him once again as head football coach. Snyder, 69, is credited with saving major college football at Kansas State during a remarkable run of more than 15 years, and the stadium itself is named in his honor.
But if Snyder should falter, Schulz and Currie will have a major PR problem on their hands among what would be divided alumni.
