June 7, 2011, could have been the day the Tennessee athletic department took its first step from a period of tumult toward a time of stability.

Mike Hamilton, the UT athletic director who hired both Lane Kiffin and Derek Dooley to preside over UT football, resigned that day.

There has been little stability in the aftermath of Hamilton’s departure, and his successor Dave Hart deserves much of the blame for that.

When Hamilton resigned, it was hard to imagine how the UT athletic department could possibly go downhill from the guy who made arguably the two dumbest football coaching hires in school history.

Plus, with the Bruce Pearl saga finished and Cuonzo Martin, a safe hire, on campus to coach the basketball team, it seemed like the transition to a new athletic director would be the final notable event during an ugly stretch for a storied athletic department.

Hart had some other big orange ideas.

Three and a half years into Hart’s tenure as athletic director, his decision to hire current UT football coach Butch Jones is the crown jewel in a tumultuous tenure that took a turn for the worse when Hart dismissed Donnie Tyndall as the men’s basketball coach on Friday.

Hart made a mistake by hiring Tyndall last spring after Martin, a stable and successful coach who Hart did not adequately support, left for another job.

Though he still has the public backing of Jimmy Cheek, Hart should be feeling plenty of pressure as he looks for UT’s fourth basketball coach in six years.

Two bad men’s basketball coaching hires would be enough to outweigh the apparent good found in Hart’s hiring of Jones, who is still just 12-13 in two years on the gridiron.

Landing former Texas coach Rick Barnes would probably constitute a good hire by Hart, but it wouldn’t take away from other controversies that have arisen on his watch.

His decision to eliminate the “Lady Vols” nickname from all of UT’s women’s programs except basketball seems to have little practical advantage other than pleasing Nike, UT’s soon-to-be athletic apparel provider.

The move has divided a fan base that has always supported women’s sports, and there is substantial evidence that, contrary to what Hart may think, many of the women athletes do not support the decision.

Frankly, as I close in on a May 8 graduation date, I should be thanking Hart. Covering a slightly chaotic athletic department has been a journalistically enriching experience that has brought me great professional opportunity.

But fans should be more skeptical of Hart than ever, because if the moment ever comes when Jones looks like anything less than the redeemer of UT football, Hart will look like an incompetent athletic director.

David Cobb is a senior in journalism and electronic media. He may be reached at [email protected]