BREAKING: Vanderbilt Athletic Director Malcolm Turner Resigns
Malcolm Turner has resigned as athletic director at Vanderbilt according to a statement released Tuesday morning by the university.
The university accepted Malcolm Turner’s resignation as vice chancellor for athletics and university affairs and athletics director.
“In a year of change and transition, it’s been a privilege to be a Commodore and witness firsthand the transformative power of the intersection of higher education and athletics. Vanderbilt Athletics has accomplished a great deal during my time at Vanderbilt, and the university’s athletics program and student-athletes are poised for future success,” Malcolm Turner said. “However, at the onset of this next critical phase of key Athletics initiatives and after considering certain family commitments important to me, I have elected to pursue new opportunities. I fully support what will surely be an exciting next chapter for Vanderbilt Athletics and wish the entire Vanderbilt family the very best going forward. Thank you.’”
“We appreciate Malcolm’s service to the university in support of our student-athletes and wish him the best in his future endeavors. We are grateful for the contributions he has made during his tenure,” Susan Wente, interim chancellor and provost, said.
Turner took over as athletic director Feb. 1, 2019, and served in that position for just over one year.
Speculation that there were issues inside the athletic department at Vanderbilt have been ongoing for several months and those rumors of a potential split grew louder this past weekend when Turner was seen in Miami attending the Super Bowl after missing the Commodores' home basketball game against Florida and the Vanderbilt baseball banquet, both of which took place in Nashville Saturday night.
Turner's departure now leaves the Commodores in search of their third athletic director in just over a year and puts a cloud over Turner's announced plans for facilities upgrades on all athletic facilities at the university.
The biggest part of those potential upgrades surrounds Vanderbilt Stadium, which has not had a major upgrade since 1981 and is woefully behind all the other football facilities in the Southeastern Conference and other Power 5 programs around the nation.
During his one year as athletic director, Turner was responsible for the hiring of head men's basketball coach Jerry Stackhouse after firing Bryce Drew, and he also retained hed football coach Derek Mason, and threw his full support behind the coach, much to the displeasure of fans who wanted a change at the top of the football program.
We will update this story as more information becomes available.
Follow Greg on Twitter @GregAriasSports and @SIVanderbilt or on Facebook at Vanderbilt Commodores-Maven
A 29 year veteran of radio in the Middle Tennessee area and 16 years in digital and internet media having covered the Tennessee Titans for Scout Media and TitanInsider.com before joining the Sports Illustrated family of networks.