I know we’re a little late on this news, but still wanted to post something briefly about it.For those who did miss hearing it, Monday evening, Tennessee announced it had just hired former Florida State athletic director Dave Hart to take over the same post at its university. In addition to being athletic director there, he will serve as vice chancellor. The Volunteers are coming off their share of dramas in athletics. From the fallout from the departures of former football Lane Kiffin and men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl, to the heart-wrenching news that women’s basketball coaching legend Pat Summit’s untimely medical news, the program is looking for stability and guidance moving forward.The folks at UT have looked at Hart’s track record, and believe he’s the guy for the job.From 2008 until now, he had been the executive director of athletics at Alabama, where the Crimson Tide enjoyed resurgences to their basketball and baseball programs, while also watching their prized possession, the football team, roll to a national championship. Alabama is his alma mater.Before Hart arrived in Tuscaloosa, and now Knoxville, he was in Tallahassee from 1995-2007.Ask most around FSU who knew him or were around the athletic programs at the time, and they will tell you many good things about Hart. From the interactions I’ve had with people here since taking over this beat from my predecessor, Andrew Carter, I’ve heard many positive things about the former FSU AD. After all, he helped double the school’s athletic budget oversaw many programs who won conference and national championships. There are plenty of fond memories to recall about those days.But, for those of you who remember back to 2007, you’ll remember Hart’s departure didn’t come with the smoothest of transitions, nor did it come during one of the more glamorous periods of FSU athletics. Some eight years after the football ‘Noles won their second national championship under Bobby Bowden, Hart was at the center of cleaning up a scandal that rocked Tallahassee harder than the “Free Shoes” debacle of the previous decade.During his introduction in Knoxville this week, Hart addressed the events surrounding the days when he left FSU. He talked about the academic issues and the online music course that was at the heart of a scandal that ultimately saw the Seminoles vacate wins ahead of a pair of dismal seasons. The program is just now finally bouncing back from the wake of destruction left by those problems.Hart told UT reporters that the effects of the academic impropriety issues did not contribute to his departure from FSU. The two were unrelated events, he said.“When I left Florida State, we had already made that decision before we knew there was an issue with the online music course and those type of things,” he said, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel. “I worked hand-in-hand with the program, with legal counsel, with our faculty, looking into what did happen.”UT women’s athletic director Joan Cronan said the Vols weren’t concerned with the things that happened at FSU, and believes they don’t have any bearing on how Hart does his job now.“In the athletic world, there’s not going to be an athletic administrator that feels like Dave Hart was involved in a negative way in that situation at Florida State,” Cronan said, according to the News Sentinel. “We all have the ultimate respect for his integrity.”To read more on Hart’s announced hiring at UT, check out the Knoxville News Sentinel’s coverage here.