KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Knoxville police officer who called Tennessee football coach Butch Jones during a rape investigation involving his players will no longer serve as the police department's liaison to the football team.
Knoxville police chief David Rausch said Wednesday that Sam Brown was removed from that assignment due to "reported concerns" about the relationship between the football program and the police department.
Rausch emphasized "this move is not the result of anything that Officer Brown has done or not done." Rausch called Brown "a man of great integrity."
Knoxville radio station WNML first reported the decision.
Phone records show Jones received calls from Brown and Rausch on Nov. 16, 2014, during an investigation that led to indictments against former Tennessee football players A.J. Johnson and Michael Williams. Their cases are pending.