Tennessee rewards athletic director Danny White with pay raise, contract incentives

Tennessee athletic director Danny White has a new contract extension bumping his pay to $2.75 million a year and extending his deal into 2030 with incentives included if the Vols reach the new College Football Playoffs along with rewards for teams winning Southeastern Conference titles and reaching the NCAA Tournament.

Chancellor Donde Plowman announced the new deal signed earlier this month on Thursday, rewarding White for Tennessee winning the SEC regular-season title in men’s basketball and the program’s first national championship in baseball. Plowman first hired White away from Central Florida in January 2021, and he has overseen a drastic renovation in the Volunteers’ athletic program and its success that earned him an extension in 2023.

“When Danny says he and his team of exceptional athletics administrators and coaches are working to build the best athletics department in the country, those are not just empty words,” Plowman said. “Danny is visionary — a leader in our conference and across the country — and is focused every day on creating the very best experiences for our student-athletes, our fans and our athletics department. That focus and commitment are yielding extraordinary results across all sports.”

White started a campaign in 2021 to raise $500 million by 2026, which has reached $559 million. He has overseen renovations of Neyland Stadium and the baseball stadium.

He had been scheduled to be paid $2.2 million. This deal, good through July 31, 2030, rewards White for being one of only two Power Five schools to send every team to the postseason this past year. That’s a first for Tennessee. The Vols also finished third in the Learfield Directors’ Cup standings for the first time since the award started in 1993 while winning a third straight SEC All-Sports Trophy.

The amended contract includes incentives for Tennessee’s academic progress rate. The Vols posted its best GPAs as an athletic department over the past year, and the Tennessee Fund also just raised $139.7 million in the fiscal year ending June 30.

All 14,500 season tickets for men’s basketball already have sold out for the upcoming season, and No. 15 Tennessee, which opens the football season Saturday hosting Chattanooga, has a waiting list of at least 15,000 for season tickets.

White thanked Tennessee’s leadership from Plowman to system president Randy Boyd along with fans for their support.

“Together we have an opportunity to build something extraordinary on Rocky Top,” White said. “I believe that the momentum we’ve built in our first few years is only the beginning of a much more profound story.”