Tennessee AD John Currie Issues Statement on Backing Out of Greg Schiano Hire

Tennessee athletics director John Currie issued a statement Monday on the university's decision to back out of a memorandum of understanding with Greg Schiano, who was set to become the Volunteers' next head football coach.

"We carefully interviewed and vetted him, as we do candidates for all positions," the statement read in part. "He received the highest recommendations for character, family values and commitment to academic achievement and student-athlete welfare from his current and former athletics directors, players, coaching colleagues and experienced media figures."

Schiano, 51, is the Ohio State defensive coordinator. According to Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports, Schiano had an agreement in principle Sunday to replace Butch Jones as Tennessee coach before a wave of outcry on social media and the Knoxville campus caused the university to reconsider.

One such demonstration included someone spray-painting "Schiano covered up child rape at Penn State" on a famous rock on campus. Schiano was an assistant coach at Penn State in the 1990s, and he served under former defensive coordinator and convicted child rapist Jerry Sandusky. Former Nittany Lions assistant coach Mike McQueary said in a deposition that another assistant, Tom Bradley, told him Schiano witnessed Sandusky "doing something" to a child in a shower, per Thamel.

McQueary and Schiano were never on the same coaching staff at Penn State, and Bradley denied any knowledge of misconduct by Sandusky and McQueary's recollection of their conversation. Schiano was never called to testify and said he never saw anything inappropriate during his tenure.

Currie said Tennessee "carefully reviewed" the 2012 Louis Freeh report, which investigated how Penn State University handled child abuse allegations against Sandusky.

"Coach Schiano is not mentioned in the Freeh report and was not one of the more than 400 people interviewed in the investigation," the statement read. "We also confirmed that Coach Schiano was never deposed and never asked to testify in any criminal or civil matter. And, we conferred with our colleagues at The Ohio State University, who had conducted a similar inquiry after the 2016 release of testimony."

The fiasco has led some to speculate Currie could lose his job.

"This is such a hot mess. Just when you think they've gotten out of the ditch, they've fallen into a much bigger one," a source told Fox Sports' Bruce Feldman.