Tennessee extends AD Danny White's contract

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Chancellor Donde Plowman announced a contract extension for athletic director Danny White on Wednesday, a day after the Volunteers disclosed a big pay raise for football coach Josh Heupel.

Plowman said White agreed to an extension that starts at $2.2 million a year with an annual pay increase of 5%, up from his original $1.8 million salary. Plowman signed the updated contract on Dec. 1.

“Danny White’s strong and innovative leadership of our athletics department has created a championship culture and excellence across all sports in record time,” Plowman said of the athletic director hired in January 2021.

Since White took over, Tennessee has won six Southeastern Conference team championships in women's soccer, women’s swimming & diving, men’s basketball and baseball. The Vols won their first SEC men's basketball tournament since 1979 in March.

Tennessee football finished No. 6 in both the AP Top 25 and CFP rankings with an 11-2 record that was its best since 2001. Baseball and men's tennis earned No. 1 rankings in 2022, with baseball earning the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Men's basketball finished No. 5.

White said he's fortunate to be in the right place at the right time with university leadership and fan support.

“We’re just getting started on Rocky Top,” White said. "I can’t wait to see what’s next!”

Tennessee set a single-season record by selling 17,297 new season tickets for football in 2022, with more than 7,500 new season tickets sold for the 2023 season since September. Fundraising also is coming off a record year for 2021-22 for total money, cash receipts and total donors.

White announced in December that Tennessee had commitments of $361 million toward a campaign of raising $500 million by summer 2026.

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25