The University of Tennessee is searching for its next Director of Athletics.
Two current Group of Five athletics directors have been mentioned as logical candidates to replace the outgoing Phillip Fulmer.
Vols Wire has learned that East Carolina’s Jon Gilbert and UAB’s Mark Ingram have not been at the forefront of Tennessee’s search just yet.
During the early stages of its search, Tennessee will look at Power Five athletics directors before examining candidates within the Group of Five.
Gilbert currently serves as Director of Athletics for East Carolina. He has been in the position since Dec. 2018 after being at Southern Miss in the same capacity.
During his tenure at ECU, Gilbert has led the process for renovation and completion of facilities, while hiring several head coaches, including Mike Houston for football.
Gilbert has prior experience working in a senior athletics administrative position at Tennessee.
At Tennessee, Gilbert served as executive senior associate athletics director from 2011-16 under Dave Hart. Gilbert was responsible for various day-to-day operations.
He is a graduate of Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory, North Carolina. Tennessee men’s basketball head coach Rick Barnes is also a graduate of Lenoir-Rhyne College.
Ingram’s history in athletics on the collegiate level began as a two-year starting long snapper at Tennessee from 1995-96, playing alongside Peyton Manning.
Ingram later completed a master’s degree at UT in sports administration in 1997.
Ingram joined UT’s athletics department in 1998, serving as an assistant director of development.
From 2002-06, Ingram was an assistant athletics director for development at the University of Missouri, and then served in the same role at the University of Georgia before returning to Tennessee in 2007 as senior associate athletics director.
During his time working in UT’s athletics department, Ingram helped with renovations across campus that included Neyland Stadium. His responsibilities were raising money and working on design to build the Anderson Training Center.
At UAB, the Blazers’ football program has experienced success with two Conference USA championships, three divisional titles and four bowl invitations since returning to competition in 2017.
Finishing the Neyland Stadium renovation project would be intriguing for Ingram.
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