Tennessee will hire University of Central Florida’s Danny White as its next Athletic Director. The 41-year-old White will replace Phillip Fulmer. White became the UCF Athletic Director in 2015. After going winless that year, the program won 28 consecutive regular season games from 2017-2018. UCF finished 2017 as the only undefeated team in the nation and defeated Auburn 34-27 in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. White previously served as a senior associate athletic director at Ole Miss.

White’s successes while at UCF earned him numerous awards–as a Sports Business Journal 40 Under 40 winner in multiple years, a spot on the Orlando Business Journal 40 Under 40 list, multiple selections as one of the 50 Most Powerful People in Orlando by Orlando Magazine and a finalist for the 2018 SBJ Athletics Director of the Year honor. He was named a NACDA Under Armour Athletics Director of the Year in the spring of 2019. In 2018 SBJ named him one of the six most influential people in sports business, while Orlando Magazine tabbed him as the area’s most powerful person in sports. In 2020 Stadium rated White number four nationally on its list of athletics directors–based on the combined success of his coaching hires in football and men’s basketball.

One of White’s first duties as the new U.T. Athletic Director is being involved in the hiring of a new head football coach.

White is a 2002 graduate of the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He earned master’s degrees in both business administration and sports administration from Ohio University. He completed a doctorate degree in higher education from the University of Mississippi in 2016.

White comes from a family deeply involved in intercollegiate athletics. His father, Kevin, is vice president and director of athletics at Duke University (and previously held that same role at the University of Notre Dame, Arizona State University, Tulane University, the University of Maine and Loras College). His brother, Michael, is the head men’s basketball coach at the University of Florida. His brother, Brian, is the vice president and director of athletics at Florida Atlantic University. His sister, Mariah, is the assistant athletics director for administration at SMU.

Danny and his wife, Shawn, have four children: Aidan, Molly, Caitlin and James.