Beverly Davenport's tenure as chancellor at Tennessee may not have been a long one, but it was certainly memorable.
The school announced Wednesday that Davenport will be relieved of her chancellor duties on July 1 and return to a role within the school faculty.
"It is my responsibility as UT president to ensure the success of every campus, beginning with the leadership of every campus," university president Joe DiPietro said in a statement. "A great deal is at stake in these hires, particularly given the importance of the flagship campus both to fulfilling the UT system mission and to that mission's impact on the lives of all Tennesseans. Upon realizing that UT Knoxville needed a change from Dr. Davenport's leadership, I decided to take action to address the leadership need."
Davenport was named the school's chancellor in December 2016, and her first major move at the school was hiring John Currie from Kansas State to be the school's new athletic director. Davenport fired Currie eight months later following a coaching search that was nothing short of a debacle. Currie originally planned to hire Greg Schiano to replace Butch Jones, but after a fan revolt, he backed off the idea. Thus began a long process where Currie considered a number of different coaches, all of which played out publicly. Currie was then fired and replaced with former Vols coach Phil Fulmer, who settled on Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt.
Davenport extended Fulmer's deal to four years in April, a move that was met positively.
The coaching search was not the sole reason for Tennessee's decision to replace Davenport, but it certainly didn't help.
