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Tennessee, former AD Currie agree to $2.5-million settlement

Randy Sartin / USA TODAY Sports

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Tennessee has reached a $2.5 million settlement with former athletic director John Currie less than four months after he was suspended in the midst of a football coaching search.

Currie already had received nearly $280,000 since being placed on paid leave in December. School officials announced Thursday that Currie will get an additional $2.2 million no later than April 1.

''We wish John and his family well in their future endeavors,'' Tennessee chancellor Beverly Davenport said in a statement. ''We are grateful for his contributions to the University of Tennessee which began more than two decades ago.''

Davenport announced on Dec. 1 she was suspending Currie while seeing if the school could fire him for cause. Currie had been on the job only eight months and was looking for a new football coach at the time.

The buyout terms of Currie's contract said he'd be owed $5.5 million if he got fired without cause.

Davenport replaced Currie in the midst of a tumultuous coaching search that caused embarrassment for the university.

Currie and Greg Schiano signed a memorandum of understanding to make the Ohio State defensive coordinator the new Volunteers football coach before the deal fell apart amid a public backlash . The memorandum of understanding, which wasn't signed by Davenport, would have given Schiano a six-year, $27 million contract.

Less than a week later, Currie met with Washington State coach Mike Leach in Los Angeles about Tennessee's vacancy, and Davenport said she asked Currie to return to Knoxville.

Davenport suspended Currie the day after his meeting with Leach.

College Football Hall of Famer and former Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer took over for Currie as athletic director and eventually hired former Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt as the Vols' coach. Pruitt replaced Butch Jones, who was fired last November after going 34-27 in five seasons.

Currie took over as Tennessee's athletic director April 1 after previously having the same position at Kansas State. He also had two previous stints at Tennessee in which he filled a variety of roles.

Currie currently is spending a week as an executive-in-residence at Robert Morris University's business school .

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