You are going wrong right here. Currie can't speak out about candidates -real or imaginary- as long as Butch is employed.
Talking about Jon Gruden, not Currie.
Thinking back, and my memory may be flawed here, back during Gruden Part I (before CBJ was hired), it was much the same on VN. Not as manic, but still pretty crazy. I remember driving to work one morning; listening to Mike & Mike on ESPN Radio; and they had Jon Gruden call in. They did the "Gruden's Groove" thing, so they played a song, he raved about it, and then they were talking about NFL stuff. I remember, this part like it was yesterday, that one of them asked him about the rumors that he was in line for the UT job. And I remember him being a bit coy about it, but he ended up, in so many words, saying that he really wasn't a candidate for the UT job. Hold that thought.
Now...in hindsight we hear, and I don't know how good the info is, that he actually WAS in line for the job, but the details couldn't be worked out. My point being that JG, whether he was or wasn't a target back then, has a son at UT, has a connection here, and has to know that the fan base is going off the deep end trying to figure out if he's coming here, or not.
So my point is that is he were not a target, and/or considering the job, he would had said something publicly by now. Conclusion: there has been / is some type of conversation taking place. Mind you, what little info I got was that he was a smokescreen, so it's in my personal best interest if he's not a target. But as a Vol Fan, I want the best, so if he's it, then I'd love to be wrong about it.
I was referencing Gruden, not Currie. Sorry if I did a bad job laying it out in my original post.
Go Vols.