Not what I remember, but there was maybe an element of that. After the fans shut down Schiano for morals, it would've been hypocritical to turn around and hire Kendall Briles who was implicated (and directly involved) in the things that happened at Baylor.
I remember several ESPN talking heads pointing that out and being vocal about it. One of the TitleIX investigators that followed/worked the Baylor case I think said she reached out to TN leadership to discuss his involvement.
It would have been a bad look, so to avoid that they went with Helton.