Protesters gathered around Neyland Stadium on Sunday to speak against the potential hiring of Greg Schiano as Tennessee's next football coach.
UT reportedly was finalizing a deal with the Ohio State defensive coordinator on Sunday to take over as leader of the football program.
Fans expressed anger at Athletics Director John Currie, university chancellor Beverly Davenport, and other UT officials for the potential move.
Starting to see some signs now. Fans are telling me they're upset with Schiano's past and alleged ties to the Penn State scandal. pic.twitter.com/2azdGMqB0H
— Louis Fernandez Jr (@LouisWBIR) November 26, 2017
Jon Reed of Fox Sports Knoxville tweeted a photo of a mattress set on fire by a UT fan.
Just received a pic of our first mattress burning pic.twitter.com/kHmspMOkDb
— Jon Reed (@Jon__Reed) November 26, 2017
Schiano's record as a head coach in both the NFL and at Rutgers may be uninspiring to Vol fans. He posted a 68-67 record at Rutgers from 2001 to 2011, and had an 11-21 record leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Schiano's time as an assistant coach at Penn State in the early 1990's has been the subject of controversy. Former PSU assistant Mike McQueary gave testimony in 2016 that Schiano was aware of the child sex abuse scandal going on under then-defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, but failed to report it to authorities. Schiano has since publicly denied any knowledge of the abuse.
Security officials were stationed outside the football complex at the Anderson Training Center on UT campus. A guard said he was instructed to "hold down the fort" in preparation for a team meeting scheduled Sunday evening.
Tennessee (4-8, 0-8 SEC) is coming off the worst season in program history. 2017 marked the first time the Vols had gone winless in Southeastern Conference play and lost eight games in a single season.
Coincidentally, Schiano's Ohio State Buckeyes are now the only team in college football that have never lost eight games in a season.