During his introductory press conference at Tennessee, two of the more noteworthy moments came when athletic director Danny White expressed his desire to see the Volunteer program surround itself with positivity.

In addition to that message, the new Tennessee AD shared his process for hiring coaches — which he has been successful at during his stops at UCF and Buffalo — always start by meeting with the players.

“I have never started a coaching search without hearing from the student-athletes,” White shared on Friday. “They know a whole lot about what’s going on. What’s going on well, what’s not going on well.”

White then shared that he plans to ask the team to vote privately on captains and openly discuss their concerns or issues with those selected players. He then plans to meet with the selected captains to get a better sense of the pulse of the team.

“That’s helped me in every search that I’ve led and I think it’s been a big part of why the vast majority, if not all, of those searches have led to a better than expected first year,” White added. “Which allows a new leader to get some momentum early on.”

Empowering the athletes already on Tennessee’s campus is a wise move and it apparently has already registered with some of the Volunteers that a new dawn has arrived on Rocky Top.

Here are some of the messages shared by two Tennessee players soon after White’s hiring on Rocky Top:

https://twitter.com/Darel__/status/1352720113431142401?s=20

https://twitter.com/Darel__/status/1352720642932695042?s=20

https://twitter.com/Darel__/status/1352721205388857352?s=20

Cover photo comes from Tennessee Athletics