This Debby Jennings thing could get ugly....

[Hollerboy]

I am surprised to see Dave Hart respond so quickly and openly.  Everyone usually lawyers-up and has no comment.   Sounded like she accused him of firing Pat Summit....then I read John Adams article and it sounds like he didn't.   Not sure what is going on with all this......Looks bad from both sides. 

[RockinGrannyVol]

Ok, I'm behind....what is going on?   I haven't seen/heard any of this.

[RockinGrannyVol]

nevermind, I found it

http://www.metropulse.com/news/2012/may/23/former-lady-vols-sports-information-director-debby/

[BigOrange Maniac]

If Hart doesn't have a seriously good reason for forcing Jennings out, he's going to come out of this with a major black eye. Although if some of the things emerging that Jennings supposedly said, she was probably becoming a cancer that needed to be surgically removed from the program. Still, there's no way Hart comes out of this a winner.

[73Volgrad]

This is no could involved.  This is going to get ugly.  If Debby Jennings only said these things to the staff that she reported to and did not say it to others on staff, Hart will have less call to claim insubordination. Seriously, I am an senior engineer and we let our supervisors have it and tell them what we think. But we do it behind closed doors when they asked and after we follow company policy.

UT has hurt its potential court case by releasing these e-mails and claims. If this is an example of Hart's management style, UT is in big trouble.  He and his senior staff are coming off as thin-skinned jerks that cannot take justified criticism.  Trying to win this case in the media will not work. They should have stayed quiet. Also, in Hart's response to Jennings charge he forced Summitt out, I did not see where he once denied it.  Said he was hurt and the letter was full of untrue statements.  But he never denied it.

[BanditVol]

It looks like Hart was cleaning house across the board in terms of the media people in the UTAD - he also got rid of Bud Ford.  It also sounds like he didn't handle it very well.

Jennings was respected by her peers and seems to have done a very good job.  On the other hand, she had been complaining about discrimiation for two years.   It seems to me they should have handled her claims better.   

If you have an employee already complaining about discrimination, then best to handle it very carefully.

I'm not too worried about it.  It will work itself out.

[BigOrange Maniac]

It looks like Hart was cleaning house across the board in terms of the media people in the UTAD - he also got rid of Bud Ford.  It also sounds like he didn't handle it very well.

Jennings was respected by her peers and seems to have done a very good job.  On the other hand, she had been complaining about discrimiation for two years.   It seems to me they should have handled her claims better.   

If you have an employee already complaining about discrimination, then best to handle it very carefully.

I'm not too worried about it.  It will work itself out.

If Hart is making changes simply to place his mark on the program, I don't like it. But Ford needed to go. He's a major jerk who's been given way too much reign with the media covering UT for years.