Is he or isn’t he really coming?

That’s the question floating around Knoxville College, a historically Black institution in East Tennessee whose on-going struggles seem to include getting a new president.

School officials enthusiastically announced in December the selection of Dr. Earl Yarbrough Sr., a Virginia State University professor and long-time collegiate administrator, as their new president.

But nearly three months later, Yarbrough hasn’t been seen around campus much and alumni are wondering if he’s actually coming. School officials have said very little about Yarbrough’s status.

“I really don’t know,” says Robert J. Booker, a local newspaper columnist and KC alumnus who spends three days a week volunteering on campus. “People have been asking me about that too.”

It’s just the latest saga for a school with a proud past, though it has struggled over the years.

KC’s long list of prestigious graduates includes such luminaries as historic football coach Jake Gaither, journalist and former quarterback George Curry and late author and journalist Ralph Wiley. Noted author and lecturer Dr. Michael Eric Dyson also attended the college.

But ever since the Southern Association for Colleges and Schools yanked KC’s accreditation in 1996 because of poor finances and other issues, the school has struggled to survive.

Trustees hired Dr. Barbara R. Hatton, a former president at South Carolina State University, to run the school in 1997. Hatton struggled to make ends meet as the school, without accreditation, wasn’t able to offer federal financial aid for students.

Some help did come during Hatton’s tenure. The Tom Joyner Foundation has assisted with fundraising and contributions, as have other organizations.

KC officials also remade the college into a “work college,” for students whose employers would pay off their tuition.

But even those efforts couldn’t help the school turn the corner.