KPD Reassigns its Football Liaison, and Another UT Administrator Announces Departure

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One of two Knoxville police officers who tipped off University of Tennessee football coaches about a pending rape investigation involving some players is being reassigned. The other will remain as police chief.

Chief David Rausch announced last week that Officer Sam Brown—who has served as KPD’s liaison to the UT football program for 19 years—has been reassigned ahead of the 2016 football season, a move at least in part triggered by media scrutiny over the department’s cozy relationship with UT athletics.

Just one day later, UT Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Dave Hart announced he would step down from his position in June. Hart is the latest in a series of high-profile departures from the university’s Knoxville campus within the past year, a time when the school has been embroiled with numerous controversies, including a federal Title IX lawsuit alleging that it mishandles sexual assault cases involving student athletes and outcry from state legislators over blog posts made by its Office of Diversity and Inclusion (which legislators later voted to defund).

Brown will keep working with KPD until his retirement in January. Officer Fred Kimber takes his place as the new football liaison.

“This move is not the result of anything that Officer Brown has done or not done,” Rausch wrote in the emailed statement. “We decided to implement the change as a result of the reported concerns that were highlighted regarding the relationship with the Knoxville Police Department and the University of Tennessee Football Program.”

Questions about KPD’s relationship with UT athletics surfaced in April after phone records showed both Rausch and Brown had contacted head coach Butch Jones and other team leaders in the early stages of a sexual assault investigation involving some players. Jones, in turn, called players A.J. Johnson and Michael Williams, alerting them hours in advance that police were investigating them on allegation of rape.

Mayor Madeline Rogero subsequently ordered a review of what Rausch called a “long-standing practice” by the department of making “professional courtesy” calls to UT officials during investigations involving athletes. KPD changed its policy shortly after, saying it would only make “formal notification” to UT law enforcement.

In his statement announcing Brown’s transfer, Rausch said he was hopeful the adjustment would help the program move on and “avoid further undue scrutiny.”

Athletics Vice Chancellor Hart said he had no plans after his retirement in June next year. In an announcement, the university credited Hart with having “turned around the athletics department financially, structurally, and academically while re-energizing a now healthy Volunteer football program” during his tenure.

UT Chancellor Jimmy Cheek, who praised Hart’s work, announced his own departure in June, saying he was planning to take a less-demanding faculty position in order to spend more time with “myself, my family, and my grandchildren.” He said the move was not triggered by woes facing the embattled university.

At least four other top administrators have announced their departures in recent months.

Vice Chancellor of Diversity and Inclusion Ricky Hall turned in his resignation just one day before his office saw its funding cut by state legislators in late May.

Senior Vice Chancellor and UT Provost Susan Martin in March announced that she planned to vacate her position and return to teaching. Her last day as provost was Aug. 1.

Margie Nichols, the vice chancellor of communications at UT, said in February that she was retiring. Her announcement came not long after she was placed in charge of blog posts for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, which had started to catch ire from some state representatives over posts about gender neutral pronouns and holiday office parties.

UT Institute of Agriculture Chancellor Larry Arrington will retire at the beginning of September.

Former Mercury staff reporter Clay Duda has covered gangs in New York, housing busts in Atlanta, and wildfires in Northern California. And lots of stuff about Knoxville.

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