'We are way ahead of schedule': Danny White talks new goals for Tennessee athletics
Tennessee was ahead of its goal last season, when there were 61,490 season tickets sold at Neyland Stadium. The initial goal, set last summer in the athletic department’s ‘Rise Glorious’ campaign, was 56,000.
The strategic plan put in place by athletic director Danny White made plans for the next five years and included the ultimate goal of selling 70,000 season tickets by the 2026-27 year.
Then Tennessee won 11 games last season, the most for the Vols since 2001, and fans responded by selling out season tickets this season, selling 70,500 … a full four years ahead of the number in White’s ‘Rise Glorious’ vision.
“We are way ahead of schedule,” White told Volquest’s Brent Hubbs during an interview last week.
Danny White: ‘If you beat that goal, then raise it for next year’
So what’s next? White said that’s what his staff had recently been discussing.
“We want to do a yearly update on the strategic plan,” White said. “It’s taking us longer to do it because we have to figure out where we are raising the goals to.”
The goal for season tickets is simple. Now that the Vols are sold out for the 2023 season, they want to stay that way in the seasons to follow.
“The remaining four years of the plan are going to say keep it sold out, but I like to raise goals,” White said. “If you beat that goal, then raise it for next year.”
White said fundraising numbers have followed along with season tickets sold. The number of donors, cash received and total commitments, the three metrics White said he cares about most, are all at record levels.
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“Last year they were records by a huge margin and the cash received would be really hard to top, but we did,” he said. “The Tennessee fund staff has done a phenomenal job.”
Tennessee athletics matching success on the field with success in the classroom
The same goes for the classroom.
“Academically, we have had a record GPA all five semesters,” White said. “I don’t know how it could have gone better.
And then there’s the field and the court. Tennessee football won 11 games, including the Orange Bowl. The men’s and women’s basketball programs went to their respective Sweet 16s. The Tennessee baseball and softball programs both went to the College World Series.
“Our coaches have really raised the bar competitively,” White said. “I didn’t expect, just based on our history I think we have have averaged in the 30’s in the last 10 years in the Learfield Cup. I didn’t think we would have our best year ever in our second year here and in the first year of our strategic plan. That’s ahead of schedule.”
To stay ahead of schedule, White said he’ll continue to keep his focus internally, continuing to emphasize the strategic plan and the goals that helped the Vols get here over the last two years.
“I’m not as focused early on about what the outcomes are,” White said. “I think it’s more about what we are doing to build it.”
